thick skull

[Eng. thick, and skull.] A dull, stupid person; a blockhead. thick-skülled, a. [English thick, and skulled.] Dull, stupid; slow to learn; blockish. "Pleas'd to hear their thick skulled judges cry, Well mov'd!" Dryden: Persius , i. 166. *thick-sprung, a . [English thick , and sprung .] Sprung up thick or close together. *thick-ý, a. [Eng. thick ; y.) Thick, dense. "It was a very thicky shade." Greene, in Mourning Garment. thief, *theef, *thefe, *the of (pl. * theives , *theoves, *thevis, thieves ), s. [A. S. the of (pl. theófas ); cogn. with Dut. dief ; Icel. thjofr ; Dan. tyv ; Sw. tóuf; O. H. Ger. diup ; Ger. dieb ; Goth. thiubs .] IMG:content-1015.png:[blocks in formation] "I must bear my testimony that the people of this country [Otaheite] of all ranks, men and women, are the arrant est thieves upon the face of the earth."-Cook: First Voyage, bk. i., ch. x. In the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. no such sharp distinction was made as we now draw between a robber and a thief. In Matt. xxi. 13, xxvi. 55; Mark xiv. 48, Luke x. 30, ., the translation should have been robber instead of thief, and the penitent thief (cf. Matt. xxvii. 38-44, and Luke xxiii. 39-42 of the A. V.) crucified with Jesus should have been designated the penitent robber. 2. Used as a term of reproach, and applied especially to a person guilty of cunning, deceitful, or secret actions. "Angelo is an adulterous thief." Shakesp.: Measure for Measure, v. 3. An excrescence or waster in a candle. ( Colloq .) "Their burning lamps the storm ensuing show, Th' oil sparkles, thieves about the snuff do grow." May: Virgil; Georgic i. II. Bot.: Rubus fruticosus. ( Brit . & Holl . ) thief-catcher, s . One who catches thieves; one whose busine or profe ion is to bring thieves to justice; a detective. *thief-leader, s. A thief-catcher. "A wolf pa ed by as the thief -leaders were dragging a fox to execution." -L' Estrange. *thief-stolen, a . Stolen by a thief or thieves. (Shakesp.: Cymbeline, i. 7.) *thief-taker, s. A thief-catcher. thief-tube, s. A tube for withdrawing samples of liquids from casks, .; a sampling-tube. *thief-ly, *theefe-ly, adv . [English thief ; -ly.] Like a thief. "And in the night full theesely gan he stalke, When every wight was to his reste brought." fate, făt, färe, Chaucer: Lucrece of Rome.