plunder
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word.[1] Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries.
Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈplʌndə/
- (General American) enPR: plŭn'də(r), IPA(key): /ˈplʌndɚ/, /ˈplən-/
Audio (General American): (file) Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: plund‧er
Verb
[edit]plunder (third-person singular simple present plunders, present participle plundering, simple past and past participle plundered)
- (transitive) To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
- The mercenaries plundered the small town.
- The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.
- 1937, Josephus, Ralph Marcus, transl., chapter VIII, in Josephus: With an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library), volume VI (Jewish Antiquities), London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1958, →OCLC, book IX, paragraph 1, page 87:
- (transitive) To take (goods) by pillage.
- The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.
- (intransitive) To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
- “Now to plunder, mateys!” screamed a buccaneer, to cries of “Arrgh!” and “Aye!” all around.
- (transitive) To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
- The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.
- (transitive) To take unexpectedly.
- 2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian:
- The Serb teed up Steve Davis, who crossed low for Graziano Pellè to plunder his fifth league goal of the campaign.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to take all the goods of, by force (as in war) (transitive)
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to take by force or wrongfully
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to commit robbery or looting (intransitive)
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to use or use up wrongfully
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
[edit]plunder (uncountable)
- An instance of plundering.
- The loot attained by plundering.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:booty
- The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.
- (slang, dated) Baggage; luggage.
- 1880, The Peterson Magazine, volumes 77-78, page 215:
- […] till a long-legged boy brought him out of his revery, by an offer to carry his “plunder,” in whatsoever direction he might desire to direct his steps.
- (Philippines, crime) The crime of amassing ill-gotten wealth by public officials through a combination or series of overt criminal acts.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]instance of plundering
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loot attained by plundering
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Witczak, Krzysztof (1996): The Pre-Germanic Substrata and Germanic Maritime Vocabulary, p. 173
Dutch
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle Dutch plunder, further etymology unknown. See the verb plunderen.
Alternative forms
[edit]Noun
[edit]plunder c (plural plunders, diminutive plundertje n)
- one's property, (collective) possessions
Derived terms
[edit]- bedelaarsplunder m
- geplunderd (adjective)
- plunderage
- plunderbroek
- plunderij
- plunderkamer m or f
- plundermarkt m or f
- plundermelk m or f
- plunderzolder m
Etymology 2
[edit]Verb
[edit]plunder
- inflection of plunderen:
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