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/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Noun

thievery (countable and uncountable, plural thieveries)

1. The act of theft, the act of stealing.

   This instance of thievery will not be overlooked.

   • 2008, John O’Callaghan, “Neither Robber Barons nor Philosopher Kings: Political Prudence in the Just Polity”, in Margaret Monahan Hogan, Lauretta Conklin Frederking, editors, The American Experiment: Religious Freedom, [Portland, Ore.]: University of Portland, Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture, →ISBN, section 4 (Theoretical Analyses), page 343:

     One thief may well have the power to achieve a certain amount of success in fulfilling his desires to possess the property of another. But thievery being what it is, it feeds that desire in an intemperate way, and so the desire grows and grows.

2. (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, [Act IV, scene iv], line 42:

     Injurious Time now, with a robber's haste, / Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how;