English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From thick (friendly, intimate), first attested in 1827 as "thick as two thieves".[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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(as) thick as thieves (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight.
    • 1884, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in Huckleberry Finn:
      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.
    • 1904, Fergus Hume, chapter 9, in The Red Window:
      He and Victoria were as thick as thieves, and are about equal in wickedness.
    • 2001 October 26, Tony Karon, “What They're Saying About the War”, in Time, retrieved 4 August 2015:
      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.

Usage notes

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “As thick as thieves”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 2022-12-02:The first example that I can find of it in print is from the English newspaper The Morning Chronicle, in a letter dated March 1827, published in February 1828: Bill Morris and me are as thick as two thieves..