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Crossword clues for light-fingered

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
light-fingered
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Jack was convinced that the uninvited visitor was a light-fingered local looking for free coal.
▪ With light-fingered nimbleness he checked all the contents, drawers and secret hiding places in the dressing-case, finding everything intact.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Light-fingered

Light-fingered \Light"-fin`gered\ (l[imac]t"f[i^][ng]`g[~e]rd), a. Dexterous in taking and conveying away; thievish; pilfering; addicted to petty thefts.
--Fuller.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
light-fingered

"thievish," 1540s, from light (adj.1) + finger.

Wiktionary
light-fingered

a. Given to thievery. Given to shoplifting.

WordNet
light-fingered

adj. having nimble fingers literally or figuratively; especially for stealing or picking pockets; "a light-fingered burglar who can crack the combination of a bank vault"- Harry Hansen; "the light-fingered thoughtfulness...of the most civilized playwright of the era"- Time [syn: nimble-fingered]

Usage examples of "light-fingered".

Crowded cars are much frequented by pick-pockets, who are said to be frequently in league with the conductors, and many valuable articles and much money are annually stolen by the light-fingered in these vehicles.

The Coopers had great faith in daily doses of religion for keeping the maidservants sweet and the menservants chaste, and upon the whole it worked -- the daily prayers, Sunday processions of the whole household to church, and a decidedly un-Christlike severity toward any backsliders, pregnant housemaids or light-fingered footmen.

But Evienne was not in San Gabriele but in Avignon, tending her own fat babies, and the villagers Gaspare had left behind some years ago found it easy to forget the scrawny, light-fingered street dancer when looking at this insolent youth with his foreign manners and his exquisite lute.