Thief
in ordinary language, one who steals or is guilty of theft; one who takes the goods or personal property of another without his knowledge or consent, and without any intention of returning it; one who deprives another of property secretly or without open force, as opposed to a robber, who uses open force or violence. In the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. no such sharp THIEF distinction was made as we now draw between a robber and a thief. The word is also used as a term of reproach, and applied especially to a person guilty of cunning, deceitful, or secret actions .