steal Hear it!

steal Definition

steal (stēl)

transitive verb stole, stol′en, steal′·ing

  1. to take or appropriate (another's property, ideas, etc.) without permission, dishonestly, or unlawfully, esp. in a secret or surreptitious manner
  2. to get, take, or give slyly, surreptitiously, or without permission to steal a look, to steal a kiss
  3. to take or gain insidiously or artfully to steal someone's heart, to steal the puck in hockey
  4. to be the outstanding performer in (a scene, act, etc.), esp. in a subordinate role
  5. to move, put, carry, or convey surreptitiously or stealthily (in, into, from, away, etc.)
  6. ☆ Baseball to gain (a base) safely without the help of a hit, walk, or error, usually by running to it from another base while the pitch is being delivered

Etymology: ME stelen < OE stælan, akin to Ger stehlen, prob. altered < IE base *ster-, to rob > Gr sterein, to rob

intransitive verb

  1. to be a thief; practice theft
  2. to move, pass, etc. stealthily, quietly, gradually, or without being noticed
  3. Baseball to steal or attempt to steal a base

noun

  1. an act of stealing
  2. something stolen
  3. something obtained at a ludicrously low cost

steal Related Forms
steal′er noun
steal Synonyms

steal

v.

take, filch, bag, thieve, loot, rob, purloin, embezzle, defraud, keep, carry away, carry off, appropriate, take possession of, withdraw, divert, lift, remove, impress, abduct, shanghai, kidnap, hijack, spirit away, run off with, hold for ransom, rifle, sack, cheat, cozen, hold up, strip, poach, peculate, counterfeit, circulate bad money, swindle, plagiarize, misappropriate, housebreak, burglarize, blackmail, fleece, plunder, pillage, despoil, ransack, crib*, burgle*, stick up*, skyjack*, pinch*, rustle*, rip off*, liberate*, snatch*, lift*, freeze on to*, annex*, cop*, swipe*, pinch*, mooch*, gyp*, dip one's hands into*, make off with*, borrow*; see also seize 2.

steal Usage Examples

Object

  • limelight: Never ones to steal the limelight ( we jest!
  • march: Buying currency Transferring the money So, youâve stolen a march on BIG plc and captured the market in Chinese-made digital underpants.
  • handbag: Over the last three days there have been three separate incidents in which elderly people have been targeted and their handbags stolen.
  • purse: Chris was only yards away and chased after the man who had stolen two purses from Icelandâs canteen.
  • wallet: It's believed they broke into the house through a back door and stole a wallet from the kitchen.
  • jewel: Can Max control his temptation of stealing the last jewel or will he give in and complete his life's work?

Modifying Another Word

  • shamelessly: This idea is stolen shamelessly from Joel Spolsky's famous " Joel Test " for rating the quality of a software team.
  • allegedly: The revelations come as Spencer's trusted employe prepares to stand trial for allegedly stealing an entire floor of Kensington Palace following her death.
  • blatantly: This is carried out by a president who blatantly stole the 2000 election and represents only corporate interests.
  • nearly: He denied stealing nearly £ 2,000 from his local Labor party branch.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • along: Softly we stole along until we had come into the other wing.
  • away: However, the Birmingham Canal Company were not about to let anybody sneak into their territory and steal away with their coal!

Followed by a transitive particle

  • away: They say that he and his castle steal away young girl's hearts.

Used with why or when

  • whatever: As the play unravels, readers see that Goneril and Regan begin plotting to steal whatever power the king still may have.
  • when: Sadly, the original wheel was stolen when the Arctic Corsair was broken into when laid up in Hull Albert Dock.

Infinitive complement

  • feed: The final case involves a youth, 16, who steals to feed his gambling habit.

Preposition: during

  • burglary: A silver Mercedes car, believed to have been stolen during a burglary in Basingstoke on July 3, was also recovered in Caversham.

Preposition: from

  • van: Laptops valued at more thant £ 100,000 were stolen from the delivery van which was later found burnt out at Top Road, Barnacle.
  • vehicle: A third sat nav worth £ 400 was stolen from a vehicle on Monday in Dover Street.
  • car: Thieves like to steal from cars parked in places where they run less risk of being seen.
steal Quotes

Il avait soixante et trois manie'  res d'en trouver toujours a' son besoin, dont la plus honorable et la plus commune e¤  tait par fa c° on de larcin furtivement fait. He had sixty-three ways to find the money when he needed it, the most honourable and most ordinary of which was to steal secretively.

—Rabelais, Fran c° ois

Great poetsseldommake bricks without straw.They pile up allthe excellencestheycanbeg, borrow, or steal from their predecessors and contemporaries and then set their own inimitable light atop the mountain.

—Pound, Ezra Loomis

Like the Arabs, I fold my tens and silently steal away. See Longfellow 516:50.

—Kaufman, George S(imon)

La majestueuse e¤  galite¤   des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain. The majestic equality of laws forbids the rich as well as the poor tosleep under bridges, to beg inthestreets and to steal bread.

—Thibault

'To steal my Basil-pot away from me.'

—Keats,John

Welcome, thou kind deceiver! Thou best of thieves; who with an easy key, Dost open life, and, unperceived by us, Even steal us from ourselves.

—Dryden,John

And God spake all these words, saying,Iamthe L thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that isinheaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the L thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thoushalt nottakethename of the L thy God invain; for the L will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember thesabbath day, to keep it holy. Six daysthou shalt labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the L thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the L made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the L blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long uponthelandwhichtheL thy Godgiveththee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When it's so lucrative to cheat.

—Clough, Arthur Hugh