What thief might do - and how thief ends in awful peril (6)
I believe the answer is:
pilfer
'what thief might do and' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun but the answer is not.
'thief ends in awful peril' is the wordplay.
'ends' says to take the final letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'awful' indicates anagramming the letters.
The last letter of 'thief' is 'f'.
'peril' anagrammed gives 'piler'.
'f' put into 'piler' is 'PILFER'.
'how' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pilfer that I've seen before include "Commit minor crime" , "Steal (small things)" , "appropriate" , "Half-inch" , "Filch" .)