"sneak thief" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sneak",
        "3": "thief"
      },
      "expansion": "sneak + thief",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "snigtyv",
        "lit": "sneak thief"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish snigtyv (literally “sneak thief”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sneak + thief. Compare Danish snigtyv (literally “sneak thief”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sneak thieves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sneak thieves"
      },
      "expansion": "sneak thief (plural sneak thieves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Danish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, John Dos Passos, “Antonio Machado: Poet of Castile”, in Rosinante to the Road Again, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:",
          "text": "[…] travelling gangs of Moorish artisans, heavy armed Templars on their way to the Sepulchre, wandering minstrels, sneakthieves, bawds, rowdy strings of knights and foot-soldiers setting out with wine-skins at their saddlebows to cross the passes towards the debatable lands of Extremadura, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A thief who steals without being noticed and without using violence."
      ],
      "id": "en-sneak_thief-en-noun-IK9Q5qGI",
      "links": [
        [
          "steal",
          "steal"
        ],
        [
          "noticed",
          "noticed"
        ],
        [
          "violence",
          "violence"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sneakthief"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "sneak thief",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "snigtyv"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "sneak thief",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Gelegenheitsdieb"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sneak thief"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sneak",
        "3": "thief"
      },
      "expansion": "sneak + thief",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "snigtyv",
        "lit": "sneak thief"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish snigtyv (literally “sneak thief”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sneak + thief. Compare Danish snigtyv (literally “sneak thief”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sneak thieves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sneak thieves"
      },
      "expansion": "sneak thief (plural sneak thieves)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjective-noun compound nouns",
        "English compound terms",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Danish translations",
        "Terms with German translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, John Dos Passos, “Antonio Machado: Poet of Castile”, in Rosinante to the Road Again, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:",
          "text": "[…] travelling gangs of Moorish artisans, heavy armed Templars on their way to the Sepulchre, wandering minstrels, sneakthieves, bawds, rowdy strings of knights and foot-soldiers setting out with wine-skins at their saddlebows to cross the passes towards the debatable lands of Extremadura, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A thief who steals without being noticed and without using violence."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "steal",
          "steal"
        ],
        [
          "noticed",
          "noticed"
        ],
        [
          "violence",
          "violence"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "sneakthief"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "sneak thief",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "snigtyv"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "sneak thief",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Gelegenheitsdieb"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sneak thief"
}