steal
pronunciation
How to pronounce steal in British English:
UK [stiːl]
How to pronounce steal in American English:
US [stiːl]
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- Noun:
- an advantageous purchase
- a stolen base; an instance in which a base runner advances safely during the delivery of a pitch (without the help of a hit or walk or passed ball or wild pitch)
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- Verb:
- take without the owner's consent
- move stealthily
- steal a base
- to go stealthily or furtively
Word Origin
- steal
- steal: [OE] Steal comes from a prehistoric Germanic base *stel-. This also produced German stehlen, Dutch stelen, Swedish stjäla, and Danish stjæle, but its ultimate ancestry is unknown. The derived stealth [13] originally meant ‘theft’ (‘I know my lord hath spent of Timon’s wealth, and now ingratitude makes it worse than stealth’, Shakespeare, Timon of Athens 1607), but this has gradually been ousted by the metaphorical ‘furtiveness’. Stalk ‘follow furtively’ comes from the same Germanic base.=> stalk, stealth
- steal (v.)
- Old English stelan "to commit a theft, to take and carry off clandestinely and without right or leave" (class IV strong verb; past tense stæl, past participle stolen), from Proto-Germanic *stelan (cognates: Old Saxon stelan, Old Norse, Old Frisian stela "to steal, to rob one of," Dutch stelen, Old High German stelan, German stehlen, Gothic stilan "to steal"), from PIE *stel-, possibly a variant of *ster- (3) "to rob, steal." "The notion of secrecy ... seems to be part of the original meaning of the vb." [OED]. Intransitive meaning "to depart or withdraw stealthily and secretly" is from late Old English. Most IE words for steal have roots in notions of "hide," "carry off," or "collect, heap up." Attested as a verb of stealthy motion from c. 1300 (as in to steal away, late 14c.); of kisses from late 14c.; of glances, sighs, etc., from 1580s. The various sports senses begin 1836. To steal (someone) blind first recorded 1974.
- steal (n.)
- 1825, "act or case of theft," from steal (v.). Meaning "a bargain" is attested by 1942, American English colloquial. Baseball sense of "a stolen base" is from 1867.
Example
- 1. Competitors anywhere in the world can steal ideas .
- 2. Foreigners steal our jobs . Aliens cause a rise in crime .
- 3. They begin to steal crucifixes to put above the graves .
- 4. It is harder to steal from nice people .
- 5. The next step after penetrating networks to steal data is to disrupt or manipulate them .