- 1nB1/θiːf/小偷；竊賊
someone who takes things that belong to another person or place, without asking and without paying — usually quietly, rather than by people.
示範例句 · Example
A thief took Mei's bicycle from outside the shop, but the police found it two days later.
逐字一個小偷從商店外面拿走了美的腳踏車，但是警察兩天後找到了它。
「thief」是英文裡「偷東西的人」最通用的字，畫面可以想成「安靜地把不屬於自己的東西拿走的人」——沒有問過人，也沒有付錢。英文把這一家人分得很細：thief 是通稱（車、腳踏車、皮包都可以），burglar 是進到房子或辦公室裡拿東西的人，robber 則是當著人的面用威脅的方式拿。thief 講的是「人」，「偷」這個動作要用動詞 steal。
常見搭配
car thief
偷車賊
someone who steals cars
Car thieves often look for cars that are left unlocked.
petty thief
偷小東西的小賊
someone who steals small, cheap things
He was a petty thief who took only sweets and pens.
catch a thief
抓到小偷
to find and stop someone who has been stealing
The shop camera helped the police catch the thief.
thieves break into somewhere
竊賊闖入某處
thieves get into a building in order to steal things
Thieves broke into the office and took two computers.
core核心畫面
You can picture a thief as the person who takes what is not theirs while nobody is looking: a hand slipping into a bag on a crowded train, a window quietly opened at night. The word carries the idea of quietness — a thief works by not being noticed. Someone who takes things by pointing a weapon and people is usually called a instead; the thief's method is stealth, not threat.
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
thiefnoun/ˈθiːf/
- 1
One who carries out a theft.
- water-thieves and land-thieves
- 2
One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
- Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.
- 3
obsoleteA waster in the snuff of a candle.
- But hear you, my Worthy Brethren: do not you, where you see a thief in the candle, call presently for an extinguisher[…]
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。