thiefly

comparative more thiefly · superlative most thiefly · alternative dialectal thievely

1. archaicLike a thief; thievish.

   ...here he was, bent on one last thiefly act.

   2011, Ed Greenwood, Elminster: Making of a Mage, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   Most patiently, with noiseless tread, I then did Make thro' those sumptuous halls my thiefly way, Until at last I reached the chamber splendid Where Hobart Chatfield Chatfield slumb'ring lay.

   1893, “The Lay of a Lake Forest Burglar”, in Town Topics, the Journal of Society, volume 30, page 24

   In bantering gusto he went right on with his thiefly enterprise.

   1949, Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, The Improvement Era - Volume 52, page 378

   Rogues are characters with some expertise in thiefly abilities and more specialized knowledge of arms than that possessed by Fighters.

   1995, Coleman Charlton, Pete Fenlon, S. Marvin, Rolemaster Standard Rules, →ISBN

   It would be a sad thing to enter this dark time and then to have an eternal reality stolen and lessened in a thiefly sort of way at the door of death through a life that was lived in a less than honorable fashion.

   2002, Milton Finch, Virginia Ward, Hello Again, Already!: A Book for the Spiritually-Minded Christian

comparative more thiefly · superlative most thiefly · alternative dialectal thievely

1. rareLike a thief; thievishly.

   What great is living so thiefly!!! (Like a thief).

   1983, David G. Smith, The Music Stops and the Waltz Continues, page 120

   1 more example

   Downyng described Sybbesoun as "a strong thief to Wood Mill, for truly he and his wife have procured my servant and my goods, that is to say wheat and rye by the bushel and the half, as thiefly and as un-truly as he might do."

   2008, Derek G. Neal, The Masculine Self in Late Medieval England, page 43