thievery
English
Etymology
From thieve + -ery. Compare Old Frisian deverie ("thievery; theft"; > West Frisian dieverij; Saterland Frisian Däiweräi), Dutch dieverij (“thievery”), German Low German Deveree (“thievery; theft”), German Dieberei (“thievery”), Danish tyveri (“thievery; theft; larceny”), Swedish tjuveri (“thievery”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈθiːv.(ə)ɹ.i/
Noun
thievery (plural thieveries)
- The act of theft, the act of stealing.
- This instance of thievery will not be overlooked.
- (obsolete) That which is stolen.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv], line 42:
- Injurious Time now, with a robber's haste, / Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how;
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