loot

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: loot-

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /luːt/
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːt
  • Homophone: lute (in accents with yod-dropping)

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Dutch loet, loete ("scoop, shovel, scraper"; > Modern Dutch loet), from Old Dutch *lōta, from Old Frankish *lōtija (“scoop, ladle”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōþþijō (“ladle”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to lay down, deposit, overlay”). Cognate with Scots lute, luyt (“scoop, ladle”), West Frisian loete, lete, Middle Low German lōte (“rake”), French louche ("ladle"; < Germanic). Related to lade, ladle.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

loot (plural loots)

  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

Etymology 2[edit]

Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट (lūṭ)/لوٹ‎ (lūṭ, “spoil, booty”), from Sanskrit लुण्ट् (luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".

In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare.

A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.

Noun[edit]

loot (uncountable)

  1. The act of plundering.
    the loot of an ancient city
  2. plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
    • 2019 July 3, Mike D'Angelo, “Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck blunder through a heavy heist in J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier”, in AV Club‎[1]:
      Movies and TV were […] continuing to pretend for many years that the contents of a single briefcase could purchase a small country. Lately, though, filmmakers have made some sincere efforts to be realistic about the sheer bulk of pilfered loot)
  3. (colloquial, US) Any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
    • 1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
  4. (video games) Items dropped by defeated enemies.
Synonyms[edit]
See also[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

loot (third-person singular simple present loots, present participle looting, simple past and past participle looted)

  1. (transitive) To steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
    to loot valuables from a temple
    • 1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
    • 1901 October 11, “District Reports”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎[2], volume 4, number 16, page 483:
      On the 22nd ultimo the Boers made a raid into the District, and the result was that some 300 head of cattle and 600 sheep were looted.
  2. (intransitive) To steal from.
    to loot a temple for valuables
  3. (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.
Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  • Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885).

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Dutch lote.

Noun[edit]

loot m (plural loten, diminutive lootje n)

  1. A sprout, shoot, stem etc. growing on an existing plant part
    Synonym: scheut
  2. Something or someone originating, growing, developing from another.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

loot

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of loten
  2. imperative of loten

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *laud.

Noun[edit]

lôot n

  1. lead (metal)
    Synonym: bli

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants[edit]

  • Dutch: lood
  • Limburgish: loead

Further reading[edit]

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