Definition of "thief-taker" [thief-taker]

• One whose business it is to find and take thieves and bring them to justice; a thief-catcher. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "Here's a scanned and indexed copy of a 1736 guide to thieves 'cant, for those times when you want to play stern thief-taker and naughty pickpocket."
• "Meanwhile the thievery goes on, as the accounts are expected to fail to pass muster yet again and now that any would be thief-taker knows what will happen to them if they try and disturb the activities of the EuroLooters, is likely to continue for ever and a day."
• "Similarly, Jack Sheppard, in truth a young housebreaker and prison-breaker who was hung at the age of 23, was mythologised in serials, stories and comic strips for the next century as was that other famous burglar, Charles Peace often the hero of these stories which pitched him against Jonathan Wild, the crooked thief-taker."