purloin

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈlɔɪn/

  • Audio (UK)

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• 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.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     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.

   • 1916, A. Cecil Curtis, transl., chapter 4, in Royal Highness, translation of Königliche Hoheit by Thomas Mann:

     The refreshment room was full of chatter and babble, which attracted everybody's envious glances. Some one had left his set in the middle of the dance, purloined a sandwich from the buffet, and was now chewing away proudly as he swerved and stamped, to the amusement of the rest.

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

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

Translations

to take the property of another

• Bulgarian: присвоявам (bg) (prisvojavam)
• Dutch: ontvreemden (nl), ontwenden (nl)
• Finnish: varastaa (fi), kähveltää (fi), anastaa (fi)
• German: entwenden (de), mitgehen lassen
• Hungarian: ellop (hu), lop (hu), eloroz, oroz (hu), eltulajdonít (hu), elemel (hu)
• Icelandic: stela (is), taka (is), ræna (is)

• Korean: 빼앗다 (ko) (ppaeatda)
• Russian: присва́ивать (ru) (prisváivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: otuđiti, prisvojiti (sh)
• Spanish: hurtar (es), robar (es)
• Swedish: stjäla (sv), beslagta (sv)
• Turkish: aşırmak (tr), çalmak (tr), yürütmek (tr)

to commit theft; to thieve

• Bulgarian: крада (bg) (krada)
• Dutch: stelen (nl)
• German: stehlen (de)
• Italian: rubare (it)
• Russian: красть (ru) (krastʹ), ворова́ть (ru) (vorovátʹ)

• Serbo-Croatian: ukrasti (sh), otuđiti
• Swedish: stjäla (sv), tjuva (sv), snatta (sv)