Word.ws English Dictionary

water-thief

water-thief noun: a thief or robber on the water, hence, a pirate.

Noun (1)

water-thief (plural water-thieves)

  1. (archaic, rare) A thief or robber on the water, hence, a pirate.

Noun (2)

water-thief (plural water-thieves)

  1. A valve with multiple connections that permits bleeding a large line through several subordinate lines.

Forms of water-thief

pluralwater-thieves
alternative formwaterthief

Origin of water-thief

From water + thief.

Calque of Ancient Greek κλεψύδρα (klepsúdra, “pipette”, literally “water-thief”), equivalent to water + thief.

Questions about water-thief

What does water-thief mean?
Water-thief means a thief or robber on the water, hence, a pirate.
What part of speech is water-thief?
Water-thief is a noun.
What is the plural of water-thief?
The plural of water-thief is water-thieves.

Words near water-thief in the dictionary

  1. water-soaking
  2. water-soaks
  3. water-soluble
  4. water-splash
  5. water-splashes
  6. water-thief
  7. water-thieves
  8. water-tight
  9. water-tube boiler
  10. water-tube boilers
  11. water-wheel

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: water-thief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “water-thief.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/water-thief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.