Dictionary

thiefy en · ADJ

Etymology

From thief + -y.

Meanings

1. (informal) Like a thief; thievish; thieving
   • He picked up the last of the pieces and studied it. It depicted a shadowy figure, crouched and masked. Very thiefy, he noted with a smile. “What about this one? How does it move, and what does it do?” 2017, Carrie Ryan, John Parke Davis, Shadows of the Lost Sun:
   • A sullen, thiefy edginess crept over Ardreagh. 2000, Fred Johnston, Atalanta, page 162:
   • This makes for some pretty funny business, and so does a scene showing the fence stepping forth from a church, where he has presumably been casting a thiefy eye at the sacred vessels, and talking briskly to a henchman about the paint job he wants done on one of his hot commodities. 1949, The New Yorker, volume 25, page 52:

Forms

Synonyms

thiefly · thieflike