a. Forms: α. 5 thef-, 6 theaffish. β. 5–6 theu-, 6 thev-, 6–7 theeu-, 6–8 theev-, 6– thievish [f. THIEF, thiev- (see note in etym. s.v.) + -ISH1.]
† 1. Infested or frequented by thieves. Obs.
1483. Cath. Angl., 382/2. Thefyische (A. A Thefis place), crebrifurus, spoliatorium.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Macc. i. 35. Thus became it a theuysh castell.
1541. Bible (Cranmer), Ps. x. 8. He syteth lurkyng in ye theuish corners of the stretes.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. i. 79. Or walke in theeuish waies.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VII. 335. Three French murderers set vppon me in a theeuish Wood.
2. Inclined or given to thieving; dishonest.
1538. Elyot, Furax, acis, theuyshe, a great picker.
1552. Huloet, Theaffyshe and thieuyshe, furax, cis.
1555. Eden, Decades, 300. A theeuysshe kynd of men.
1575. Gamm. Gurton, V. ii. A theeuisher knaue is not on liue.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 236. Rashboots a theeuish but valiant people in India vnder the Mogul.
1748. Anson’s Voy., IIII. x. 414. Their Magistrates are corrupt their people thievish.
1883. J. Gilmour, Mongols, xxxi. 363. The Mongol is despised as ignorant, dirty, stupid, and thievish.
3. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a thief or thieves; thief-like; furtive, stealthy.
c. 1450, c. 1460. [implied in THIEVISHLY, -NESS].
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 152. Yet wrought it not so well, For all their theevish pace.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. iii. 33. Enforce A theeuish liuing on the common rode. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., lxxvii. Times theeuish progresse to eternitie.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 95. According to the manner of Thievish War, the Conqueror by Proclamation gave away the Houses and Possessions of such as were vanquished.
1735. Thomson, Liberty, III. 399. Corruption’s Thievish Arts.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, III. 8. Their extortion, and their thievish propensities.
