plunder

Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries.

Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈplʌndə/
• (General American) enPR: plŭn'də(r), IPA^(key): /ˈplʌndɚ/, /ˈplən-/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: plund‧er

plunder (third-person singular simple present plunders, present participle plundering, simple past and past participle plundered)

1. (transitive) To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.

   The mercenaries plundered the small town.

   The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.

   • 1937, Josephus, Ralph Marcus, transl., chapter VIII, in Josephus: With an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library), volume VI (Jewish Antiquities), London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1958, →OCLC, book IX, paragraph 1, page 87:

     Now Azaēlos, the king of Syria, made war on the Israelites and their king Jehu, and ravaged the eastern parts of the country across the Jordan spreading fire everywhere and plundering everything and inflicting violence on all who fell into his hands.

2. (transitive) To take (goods) by pillage.

   The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.

3. (intransitive) To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.

   “Now to plunder, mateys!” screamed a buccaneer, to cries of “Arrgh!” and “Aye!” all around.

4. (transitive) To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.

   The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.

5. (transitive) To take unexpectedly.
   • 2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian:

     The Serb teed up Steve Davis, who crossed low for Graziano Pellè to plunder his fifth league goal of the campaign.

• plunderable
• plunderage
• plunderer
• plunderous

plunder (uncountable)

1. An instance of plundering.
2. The loot attained by plundering.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:booty

   The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.

3. (slang, dated) Baggage; luggage.
   • 1880, The Peterson Magazine, volumes 77-78, page 215:

     till a long-legged boy brought him out of his revery, by an offer to carry his “plunder,” in whatsoever direction he might desire to direct his steps.

4. (Philippines, crime) The crime of amassing ill-gotten wealth by public officials through a combination or series of overt criminal acts.

• manubial

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From Middle Dutch plunder, further etymology unknown. See the verb plunderen.

• plonder (obsolete)

plunder c (plural plunders, diminutive plundertje n)

1. one's property, (collective) possessions

   Synonyms: have (en goed), huisraad

   1. notably furniture and other (mainly small) home inventory

plunder

1. inflection of plunderen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative