purloin

English

Etymology

From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), a borrowing from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈlɔɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪn

Verb

purloin (third-person singular simple present purloins, present participle purloining, simple past and past participle purloined)

1. (transitive) To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
   • Milton

     Had from his wakeful custody purloined / The guarded gold.

   • 1900, One Who Was in It, chapter 8, in Kruger's Secret Service, pages 168-169:

     Probably my acquaintance, Mr Blank, therefore, would have been able, if he had so wished to do, to purloin the papers which he mentioned.

2. (intransitive) To commit theft; to thieve.
   • 2006 [1622], William Gouge, Of Domestical Duties, ISBN 1430309598, page 454:

     The Apostle expressly forbiddeth servants to purloin (Titus 2:10).

Translations

To convert the property of another

• Dutch: ontvreemden (nl), ontwenden (nl)
• Finnish: varastaa (fi), kähveltää (fi), anastaa (fi)
• German: entwenden (de)
• Icelandic: stela (is), taka (is), ræna

• Russian: присва́ивать (ru) (prisváivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: otuđiti, prisvojiti (sh)
• Spanish: hurtar (es), robar (es)
• Swedish: stjäla (sv)

To commit theft; to thieve

• Italian: rubare (it)
• Russian: красть (ru) (krastʹ), ворова́ть (ru) (vorovátʹ)

• Serbo-Croatian: ukrasti (sh), otuđiti