a person who steals goods from a shop during shopping hours
shoplifter in American English
(ˈʃɑpˌlɪftər)
noun
a person who steals goods from the shelves or displays of a retail store while posing as a customer
Word origin
[1670–80; obs. shoplift shoplifter (shop + lift) + -er1]This word is first recorded in the period 1670–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cohesion, festoon, kink, routine, splutter-er is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupationor labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance(six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner)
Examples of 'shoplifter' in a sentence
shoplifter
Self-confessed shoplifter, embezzler and small-town deceiver.
David Cavanagh MUSIC FOR BOYS (2003)
The alternative is that he is a shoplifter.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
You are watched like a suspected shoplifter.
The Sun (2008)
I had assumed top economist and shoplifter, once banged up, suffered the same privations.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Chasing a shoplifter at 100mph isn't worth the risk: visit them at home later.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Remarkably, the ape paced around looking exactly like a shoplifter.
The Sun (2014)
Or the shoplifter who fell down stairs while on the run from police.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
A shoplifter swallowed red-hot chilli peppers he had stolen from a grocery store.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It might be possible to rehabilitate a burglar or shoplifter.
The Sun (2010)
He was a persistent shoplifter, making outings an ordeal for the whole family.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
She has been a shoplifter ever since she was a university student.