housebreaker

From house +‎ breaker.

housebreaker (plural housebreakers)

1. A criminal who breaks into and enters another's house or premises with the intent of committing a crime.

   Synonym: (slang) drummer [British]

   Alternative forms: house breaker, house-breaker

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Oeconomy and Happy Life among the Houyhnhnms. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 301:

     […] here were no Gibers, Cenſurers, Backbiters, Pick-pockets, Highwaymen, Houſebreakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gameſters, Politicians, Wits, ſplenetick tedious Talkers, Controvertiſts, Raviſhers, Murderers, Robbers, Virtuoſo's; […]

   • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Miss Stanbury’s Generosity”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 93:

     [H]e is dressed in such a rapscallion manner that the people would think you were talking to a house-breaker.

   • 1968 November 19, “‘Infuriated’ vicar's wife routs interloper”, in Montreal Gazette, Canada, retrieved 21 September 2010, page 9:

     The vicar seized a sword and routed the housebreaker, but it was the vicar's wife in a nightgown and coat who caught up with the fleeing intruder, slapped his face and held him by the neck.

   • 2009 May 20, “Serial housebreaker nabbed”, in AsiaOne, Singapore, retrieved 21 September 2010:

     A serial housebreaker who is believed to have stolen from several homes in Ang Mo Kio last month was nabbed on Tuesday.

• burglar