"thick as thieves" meaning in English

See thick as thieves in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-au-thick as thieves.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: From thick (“friendly, intimate”), first attested in 1827 as "thick as two thieves". Etymology templates: {{m|en|thick|gloss=friendly, intimate}} thick (“friendly, intimate”) Head templates: {{en-adj|-|head=(as) thick as thieves}} (as) thick as thieves (not comparable)
  1. (idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight. Tags: idiomatic, not-comparable Synonyms: thick as two thieves, close as thieves Translations (intimate, close-knit): cul i merda (Catalan), carn i ungla (Catalan), 糖黐豆 (alt: tong⁴ ci¹ dau⁶⁻²) (Chinese Cantonese), läheinen (Finnish), kuin paita ja peppu [colloquial] (Finnish), copains comme cochons [plural] (French), comme larrons en foire (French), comme cul et chemise [informal] (French), culo e camicia (Italian), pappa e ciccia (Italian), henge sammen som erteris (Norwegian Bokmål), znać się jak łyse konie (english: know each other like bald horses) (Polish), водо́й не разольёшь (vodój ne razolʹjóšʹ) (Russian), como uña y mugre (Spanish), et tırnak (Turkish)

Download JSON data for thick as thieves meaning in English (4.3kB)

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "thick",
        "gloss": "friendly, intimate"
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      "expansion": "thick (“friendly, intimate”)",
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  "etymology_text": "From thick (“friendly, intimate”), first attested in 1827 as \"thick as two thieves\".",
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        {
          "ref": "1884, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in Huckleberry Finn",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1904, Fergus Hume, chapter 9, in The Red Window",
          "text": "He and Victoria were as thick as thieves, and are about equal in wickedness.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 October 26, Tony Karon, “What They're Saying About the War”, in Time, retrieved 2015-08-04",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Intimate, close-knit, tight."
      ],
      "id": "en-thick_as_thieves-en-adj-77TwRlxS",
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          "close-knit",
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        "(idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight."
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      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "thick as two thieves"
        },
        {
          "word": "close as thieves"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "not-comparable"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "cul i merda"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "carn i ungla"
        },
        {
          "alt": "tong⁴ ci¹ dau⁶⁻²",
          "code": "yue",
          "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "糖黐豆"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "läheinen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial"
          ],
          "word": "kuin paita ja peppu"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "copains comme cochons"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "comme larrons en foire"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "tags": [
            "informal"
          ],
          "word": "comme cul et chemise"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "culo e camicia"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "pappa e ciccia"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "henge sammen som erteris"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "english": "know each other like bald horses",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "znać się jak łyse konie"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vodój ne razolʹjóšʹ",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "водо́й не разольёшь"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "como uña y mugre"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
          "word": "et tırnak"
        }
      ]
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/En-au-thick_as_thieves.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "word": "thick as thieves"
}
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        "gloss": "friendly, intimate"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Undetermined quotations with omitted translation",
        "Undetermined terms with quotations"
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1884, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in Huckleberry Finn",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "1904, Fergus Hume, chapter 9, in The Red Window",
          "text": "He and Victoria were as thick as thieves, and are about equal in wickedness.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 October 26, Tony Karon, “What They're Saying About the War”, in Time, retrieved 2015-08-04",
          "text": "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.",
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        "(idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight."
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "thick as two thieves"
    },
    {
      "word": "close as thieves"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "cul i merda"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "carn i ungla"
    },
    {
      "alt": "tong⁴ ci¹ dau⁶⁻²",
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "糖黐豆"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "läheinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
      "word": "kuin paita ja peppu"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "copains comme cochons"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "comme larrons en foire"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "word": "comme cul et chemise"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "culo e camicia"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "pappa e ciccia"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "henge sammen som erteris"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "english": "know each other like bald horses",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "znać się jak łyse konie"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vodój ne razolʹjóšʹ",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "водо́й не разольёшь"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "como uña y mugre"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "intimate, close-knit",
      "word": "et tırnak"
    }
  ],
  "word": "thick as thieves"
}

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