burgle
English
Etymology
Back-formation from burglar.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbɜːɡəl/
Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(r)ɡəl
Verb
Lua error in Module:en-headword at line 1145: Legacy parameter 1=STEM no longer supported, just use 'en-verb' without params
- (chiefly Australia, British, New Zealand) to commit burglary. [from 1867]
- Synonym: burglarize
- 1867 August 24, Sydney Morning Herald[1], Sydney, page 8:
- The New York World has coined a new verb -- "to burgle."
- 1868 February 13, Louisville Daily Courier[2], Louisvile, KY, page 4:
- The language grows apace. A "cablegram" has been received, and $400 have been "burgled."
- 1868, John Brougham, Much Ado About a Merchant of Venice[3], New York: Samuel French, page 13:
- Burgled his safe and bolted with the tin.
- 1869, Joanna H. Mathews, Bessie at School[4], London: James Nisbet & Co., page 183:
- [S]he went and burgled three pears out of the dish ...
- 1870 February 5, “American Slangography”, in Punch[5], London, page 44:
- Conceive the Great Lexicographer admitting to his Dictionary such excrescencies as: "Burgle, verb active, To break into a dwelling-house,"
- 1872, M. Schele De Vere, Americanisms: The English of the New World[6], New York: Charles Scribner, page 587:
- Burglarize, to, a term creeping into journalism. ... The word has a dangerous rival in the shorter burgle.
- 1873 April 21, Albert Julius Mott, “Inaugural Address”, in Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool[7], volume xxvii, London: Longman, Greens, Reader & Dyer, page 30:
- When an American says, "I've been burgled" -- where an Englishman would say, "My house has been broken into by thieves" -- he succeeds in shortening the statement by more than half ...
- 1892, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Beryl Coronet”, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes[8], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2011:
- Well, I hope to goodness the house won’t be burgled during the night.
- (UK, sports) To take the ball legally from an opposing player.
- 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport[9]:
- And when scrum-half Ben Youngs, who had a poor game, was burgled by opposite number Irakli Abuseridze and the ball shipped down the line to Irakli Machkhaneli, it looked like Georgia had scored a try of their own, but the winger's foot was in touch.
Related terms
Translations
to commit burglary
|