steal
English
Etymology
From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną (compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Norwegian stjele); see below for more.
etymology notes
Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include
- (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”)[1]
- (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- (“to stretch”): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell (“I confuse, mess up, mix, wrap up”), Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ (steljǫ, “I spread out (bed, roof)”), Ancient Greek τηλία (tēlía, “playing table”)[2]
- (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *tsel- (“to sneak”): compare Sanskrit त्सरति (tsárati, “creep, sneak up on”) and other forms under Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"[3]
Pronunciation
Verb
steal (third-person singular simple present steals, present participle stealing, simple past stole, past participle stolen)
- (transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
- Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.
- 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:
- At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […].
- Template:RQ:Mrxl SqrsDghtr
- "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."
- (transitive, of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.) To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
- They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.
- (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
- He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.
- (Can we date this quote by Isaac Watts and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject.
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, […] and do not think to steal it.
- (transitive, colloquial) To acquire at a low price.
- He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
- (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
- (intransitive) To move silently or secretly.
- He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
- 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:
- At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […].
- 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Ch.1:
- "Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.
- 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:
- United's hopes of mounting a serious response suffered a blow within two minutes of the restart when Evans, who had endured a miserable afternoon, lost concentration and allowed Balotelli to steal in behind him. The defender's only reaction was to haul the Italian down, resulting in an inevitable red card.
- (transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.
- 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 41:
- The fact that European Cuckoos steal their eggs into the nests of other birds has been generally known for more than a thousand years.
- To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
- (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.
- (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- He will steal himself into a man's favour.
- (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (transitive, baseball) To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.
- (sports, transitive) To dispossess
- 2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1-0 Stoke”, in BBC:
- However, until Gardner stole the ball from Dean Whitehead in the centre circle with the half-hour approaching, setting off on a run which culminated with a testing long-range shot - with debutant Obafemi Martins lurking, Begovic gathered at the second time of asking - Stoke looked the more credible contenders to break the deadlock.
- (informal, transitive) To borrow for a short moment.
- Can I steal your pen?
Synonyms
- (to illegally take possession of): See Thesaurus:steal
- (to secretly move): sneak
Antonyms
Troponyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from steal (verb)
Translations
to illegally take possession of
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to get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
to draw attention
|
to move silently
|
baseball: to advance safely during the pitch
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
Noun
steal (plural steals)
- The act of stealing.
- A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price.
- At this price, this car is a steal.
- (basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
- (baseball) A stolen base.
- (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
- (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.
Synonyms
- (merchandise available at a very attractive price): (great / real / very good) bargain
Translations
merchandise available at a very attractive price
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the act of stealing
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a stolen base
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
References
- ^ J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, s.v. "steal" (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999), 543.
- ^ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, s.v. "stelanan" (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003), 374.
- ^ Guus Kroonen and Alexander Lubotsky, Proto-Indo-European *tsel- 'to sneak' and Germanic *stelan- 'to steal, approach stealthily', Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia vol. 14 (2009).
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