> as lemmas
sneak-thief
sneak-thief n.
Brit. 
/ˈsniːkθiːf/
, /ˈsniːkθiːf/U.S. /ˈsnikˌθif/
originally U.S. one who steals or thieves by sneaking into houses through open or unfastened doors or windows; also, a pickpocket, a snatch-thief; also attributive; hence sneak-thief vb. trans. (nonce-word); sneak-thiefery, sneak-thievery; sneak-thieving n./ˈsnikˌθif/ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > burglary > [noun] > by entering (unfastened) door or window
sneak-thieving1859
parlour-jumping1879
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > burglar > [noun] > who enters through unlocked door or window
area sneak1819
sneaksman1819
sneak-thief1859
parlour-jumper1860
prowler1912
stair dancer1958
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 82 Sneak~thief, a fellow who sneaks into areas, basement-doors or windows, or through front doors by means of latch-keys, and entering the various apartments, steals any thing he can carry off.
1866 Harper's Mag. Nov. 690/1 A female ‘sneak thief’ and a 'longshoreman now appear.
1877 T. De W. Talmage Serm. 58 The meanest sneak-thief that comes up..at the Tomb Court.
1884 Cent. Mag. Mar. 653/2 The offences are nearly all trivial, most of them being petty larceny and sneak-thieving.
1923 Nation 26 Dec. 743/1 The autobiography of one who has come up in the world from sneak-thiefery and gangsterdom.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 100 That is why business seems to me despicable, and most love-affairs, just sneak-thief pocket-picking of dressed-up people.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 242 The jixery perhaps never picked a man's pocket But my god, they sneak-thiefed his very genitals away from him.
1959 M. Cumberland Murmurs in Rue Morgue xix. 117 He is the sneak-thief type and the petty blackmailer.
1963 V. Gielgud Goggle-box Affair xvii. 177 Nothing else was taken, so it wasn't just sneak-thievery.
1973 E. Berckman Victorian Album 82 So there I was, practising deceit on Christabel and sneak-thievery on Mrs Rumbold.
1976 Liverpool Echo 6 Dec. 7/9 Wrexham Police to-day warned shoppers to be on the lookout for sneak thieves after a woman shopping in a chemist shop in the town had £200 stolen from her bag.
sneak-thief
sneak-thief n.
Brit. /ˈsniːkθiːf/
, /ˈsniːkθiːf/U.S. /ˈsnikˌθif/
originally U.S. one who steals or thieves by sneaking into houses through open or unfastened doors or windows; also, a pickpocket, a snatch-thief; also attributive; hence sneak-thief vb. trans. (nonce-word); sneak-thiefery, sneak-thievery; sneak-thieving n./ˈsnikˌθif/ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > burglary > [noun] > by entering (unfastened) door or window
sneak-thieving1859
parlour-jumping1879
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > burglar > [noun] > who enters through unlocked door or window
area sneak1819
sneaksman1819
sneak-thief1859
parlour-jumper1860
prowler1912
stair dancer1958
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 82 Sneak~thief, a fellow who sneaks into areas, basement-doors or windows, or through front doors by means of latch-keys, and entering the various apartments, steals any thing he can carry off.
1866 Harper's Mag. Nov. 690/1 A female ‘sneak thief’ and a 'longshoreman now appear.
1877 T. De W. Talmage Serm. 58 The meanest sneak-thief that comes up..at the Tomb Court.
1884 Cent. Mag. Mar. 653/2 The offences are nearly all trivial, most of them being petty larceny and sneak-thieving.
1923 Nation 26 Dec. 743/1 The autobiography of one who has come up in the world from sneak-thiefery and gangsterdom.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 100 That is why business seems to me despicable, and most love-affairs, just sneak-thief pocket-picking of dressed-up people.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 242 The jixery perhaps never picked a man's pocket But my god, they sneak-thiefed his very genitals away from him.
1959 M. Cumberland Murmurs in Rue Morgue xix. 117 He is the sneak-thief type and the petty blackmailer.
1963 V. Gielgud Goggle-box Affair xvii. 177 Nothing else was taken, so it wasn't just sneak-thievery.
1973 E. Berckman Victorian Album 82 So there I was, practising deceit on Christabel and sneak-thievery on Mrs Rumbold.
1976 Liverpool Echo 6 Dec. 7/9 Wrexham Police to-day warned shoppers to be on the lookout for sneak thieves after a woman shopping in a chemist shop in the town had £200 stolen from her bag.
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