steal

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

Compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla, Norwegian Bokmål stjele, Norwegian Nynorsk stela, Sanskrit स्तेय (steya); see below for more.

For the meaning development compare with Russian красть (krastʹ, “to steal”) and Russian кра́сться (krástʹsja, “to stalk, to prowl, to slink”).

• enPR: stēl, IPA^(key): /stiːl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: steel, stele
• Rhymes: -iːl

steal (third-person singular simple present steals, present participle stealing, simple past stole, past participle stolen or (nonstandard, colloquial) stole)

1. (transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.

   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 […].

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     "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."

   • 1987 November 8, Ron Hansen, “CHILDREN'S BOOKS; DISCOVERING THE OPPOSITE SEX”, in The New York Times‎:

     Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.

   • 1996, Francis Wheen, Lord Gnome's Literary Companion, page 74:

     But lawksamercy! While she is here, her youngest is, by pure chance, stolen away by a heroin addict who sells children for adoption by lustful Arabs.

   • 2015 February 7, Azard Ali, “Mother put on a bond for stealing bhaigans”, in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday‎:

     Admitting to stealing the vegetables, Mohammed said, “Boss ah tief the thing, but not me alone.” The bhaigans were valued $100.

2. (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.

3. (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

   He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.

   • 1741, I Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: , London: James Brackstone, , →OCLC:

     Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind too often from its steady pursuit of any subject.

   • 1625, Francis , “Of Great Place”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, […] and do not think to steal it.

4. (transitive, informal, figurative) To acquire at a low price.

   He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.

   He got that car for two grand under book? Wow, he stole that thing!

5. (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
6. (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 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:

     "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.

   • 1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:

     A kind of tense peace, like the centre of a cyclone, descended. Not for long, of course, for already stealing upon one's hearing would be the staccato bark and thrust of the banker bringing up the rear.

   • 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.

7. (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.

8. To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande , Dublin: Societie of Stationers, , →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland  (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: Society of Stationers, Hibernia Press, y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     He will steal himself into a man's favour.

9. (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.
10. (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.

11. (informal, transitive, hyperbolic) To borrow for a short moment.

    Can I steal your pen?

12. (informal, transitive, humorous) take, plagiarize, tell on a joke, use a well-worded expression in one's own parlance or writing

• (to illegally take possession of): See Thesaurus:steal
• (to secretly move): sneak

• (acquire licitly) receive, purchase, buy, earn
• (provide freely) donate, bestow, grant

• shoplift

steal (plural steals)

2. The act of stealing.
4. (slang, figurative) A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.

   Antonym: rip-off

   Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money

   At this price, this car is a steal.

   He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!

6. (basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
8. (baseball) A stolen base.
10. (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
12. (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.

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