One who robs; in law, one who feloniously takes goods or money from the person of another by violence or by putting him in fear.

a thief who steals from someone by threatening violence

a typical example of a person who uses fear

A candid man of affairs. It is related of Voltaire that one night he and some traveling companion lodged at a wayside inn. The surroundings were suggestive, and after supper they agreed to tell robber stories in turn. "Once there was a Farmer-General of the Revenues." Saying nothing more, he was encouraged to continue. "That," he said, "is the story."

An exposed area generally attached to a rack used in electroplating, usually to provide a more uniform current density on plated parts. Thieves are intended to absorb the unevenly distributed current on parts, thereby assured that the parts will receive a uniform electroplated coating.