[syn: stealth, stealing]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Steal \Steal\ (st[=e]l), v. t. [imp. Stole (st[=o]l); p. p.
Stolen (st[=o]"l'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Stealing.] [OE.
stelen, AS. stelan; akin to OFries. stela, D. stelen, OHG.
stelan, G. stehlen, Icel. stela, SW. stj[aum]la, Dan.
stiaele, Goth. stilan.]
1. To take, and carry away, feloniously; to take without
right or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to
steal the personal goods of another.
[1913 Webster]
Maugre thy heed, thou must for indigence
Or steal, or beg, or borrow, thy dispense.
--Chaucer.
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The man who stole a goose and gave away the giblets
in alms. --G. Eliot.
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2. To withdraw or convey clandestinely (reflexive); hence, to
creep furtively, or to insinuate.
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They could insinuate and steal themselves under the
same by their humble carriage and submission.
--Spenser.
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He will steal himself into a man's favor. --Shak.
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3. To gain by insinuating arts or covert means.
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So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
--2 Sam. xv.
6.
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4. To get into one's power gradually and by imperceptible
degrees; to take possession of by a gradual and
imperceptible appropriation; -- with away.
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Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the
mind from its steady pursuit of any subject. --I.
Watts.
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5. To accomplish in a concealed or unobserved manner; to try
to carry out secretly; as, to steal a look.
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Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course,
profess it plainly, . . . and do not think to steal
it. --Bacon.
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To steal a march, to march in a covert way; to gain an
advantage unobserved; -- formerly followed by of, but now
by on or upon, and sometimes by over; as, to steal a march
upon one's political rivals.
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She yesterday wanted to steal a march of poor Liddy.
--Smollett.
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Fifty thousand men can not easily steal a march over
the sea. --Walpole.
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Syn: To filch; pilfer; purloin; thieve.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stealing \Steal"ing\, n.
1. The act of taking feloniously the personal property of
another without his consent and knowledge; theft; larceny.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which is stolen; stolen property; -- chiefly used in
the plural.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
stealing
n 1: the act of taking something from someone unlawfully; "the
thieving is awful at Kennedy International" [syn:
larceny, theft, thievery, thieving, stealing]
2: avoiding detection by moving carefully [syn: stealth,
stealing]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
99 Moby Thesaurus words for "stealing":
abstraction, all fours, annexation, appropriation, blackmail,
boodle, boosting, booty, burglary, conversion, conveyance, crawl,
crawling, creep, creeping, doggo, embezzlement, filching, fraud,
furtive, graft, gumshoeing, haul, hidden out, hot goods, in ambush,
in hiding, in the wings, larceny, liberation, lift, lifting, loot,
lurking, nightwalking, on tiptoe, padding, peculation, perks,
perquisite, pickings, pilferage, pilfering, pinch, pinching,
piracy, pirating, plagiarism, plagiarizing, plunder, poaching,
pork barrel, prize, prowling, public till, public trough,
purloining, pussyfoot, pussyfooted, pussyfooting, robbery, robbing,
scrabble, scramble, scrounging, shoplifting, sidling, skulking,
slinking, snaking, snatching, sneak thievery, sneaking, snitching,
spoil, spoils, spoils of office, squeeze, steal, stealage,
stealings, stealthy, stolen goods, surreptitious, swag, swindle,
swiping, take, theft, thievery, thieving, till, tippytoe, tiptoe,
tiptoeing, touch, under cover, waiting concealed, worming
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Stealing
See THEFT.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
STEALING. This term imports, ex vi termini, nearly the same as larceny; but
in common parlance, it does not always import a felony; as, for example, you
stole an acre of my land.
2. In slander cases, it seems that the term stealing takes its
complexion from the subject-matter to which it is applied, and will be
considered as intended of a felonious stealing, if a felony could have been
committed of such subject-matter. Stark. on Slan. 80; 12 Johns. Rep. 239; 3
Binn. R. 546; Whart. Dig. tit. Slander.