Loot Definition

lo͝ot

looted, looting, loots

noun

loots

Goods stolen or taken by force, as from a captured enemy city in wartime or by rioters or a corrupt official; plunder, spoils, etc.

Webster's New World

Valuables pillaged in time of war; spoils.

American Heritage

Stolen goods or money.

American Heritage

The act of looting.

Webster's New World

Money.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

looted, looting, loots

To take goods from (a place) by force or without right, especially in time of war or lawlessness; plunder.

The rebels looted the city. Rioters looted the downtown stores.

American Heritage

To plunder; strip of valuables; despoil.

Webster's New World

To engage in plundering or burglary, as during a riot or natural disaster.

Webster's New World

To take or carry off as plunder.

Webster's New World

To take goods by force or through lawless behavior.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Origin of Loot

From Middle Dutch loet, loete ("scoop, shovel, scraper"; > Modern Dutch loet), from Old Dutch *lōta, from Old Frankish *lōtija (“scoop, ladle"), from Proto-Germanic *hlōþþijō (“ladle"), from Proto-Indo-European *klehâ‚‚- (“to lay down, deposit, overlay"), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to push, propel, drive"). Cognate with Scots lute, luyt (“scoop, ladle"), West Frisian loete, lete, Middle Low German lōte (“rake"), French louche ("ladle"; < Germanic). Related to lade, ladle.

From Wiktionary
Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट/لوٹ (lÅ«á¹, “spoil, booty"), from Sanskrit लुण्ट (luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder"). The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".

From Wiktionary
In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare. A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s

From Wiktionary
Hindi lūṭ from Sanskrit loptram, lotram plunder reup- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition