Adjacent Words

Purloin definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PURLOIN', v.t.
1. Literally, to take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft.
Your butler purloins your liquor.
2. To take by plagiarism; to steal from books or manuscripts.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make off with belongings of others [syn: pilfer, cabbage, purloin, pinch, abstract, snarf, swipe, hook, sneak, filch, nobble, lift]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, to put away, misappropriate, from Anglo-French purluigner to prolong, postpone, set aside, from pur- forward + luin, loing at a distance, from Latin longe, from longus long — more at purchase, long Date: 15th century to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust Synonyms: see steal • purloiner noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. formal or joc. steal, pilfer. Derivatives: purloiner n. Etymology: ME f. AF purloigner put away, do away with (as PUR-, loign far f. L longe)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Purloin Pur*loin", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Purloined; p. pr. & vb. n. Purloining.] [OF. purloignier, porloignier, to retard, delay; pur, por, pour, for (L. pro) + loin far, far off (L. longe). See Prolong, and cf. Eloign.] To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch. Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold. --Milton. when did the muse from Fletcher scenes purloin ? --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Purloin Pur*loin", v. i. To practice theft; to steal. --Titus ii. 10.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(purloins, purloining, purloined) If someone purloins something, they steal it or borrow it without asking permission. (FORMAL) Each side purloins the other's private letters. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Steal, rob, pilfer, thieve, filch, abstract, crib, cabbage.

Moby Thesaurus

abstract, and, annex, appropriate, bag, boost, borrow, cabbage, cop, crib, defraud, embezzle, extort, filch, hook, lift, make off with, nip, palm, pilfer, pinch, poach, run away with, rustle, scrounge, shoplift, snare, snatch, snitch, steal, swindle, swipe, take, thieve, walk off with