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thick as thieves. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
thick as thieves, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
thick as thieves in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
thick as thieves you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From thick (“friendly, intimate”), first attested in 1827 as "thick as two thieves".[1]
Pronunciation
Adjective
(as) thick as thieves (not comparable)
- (idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight.
1884, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in Huckleberry Finn:So the king sneaked into the wigwam and took to his bottle for comfort, and before long the duke tackled HIS bottle; and so in about a half an hour they was as thick as thieves again, and the tighter they got the lovinger they got, and went off a-snoring in each other's arms.
1904, Fergus Hume, chapter 9, in The Red Window:He and Victoria were as thick as thieves, and are about equal in wickedness.
2001 October 26, Tony Karon, “What They're Saying About the War”, in Time, retrieved 4 August 2015:President Bush may think he's as thick as thieves with his pal Vladimir Putin, but hopefully someone at the White House is reading the English edition of Pravda.
Usage notes
Translations
References
- ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “As thick as thieves”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 2022-12-02: “The first example that I can find of it in print is from the English newspaper The Morning Chronicle, in a letter dated March 1827, published in February 1828: Bill Morris and me are as thick as two thieves.”.