Purloin

verb

verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal. formal, humorous, transitive, usually

    "Had from his wakeful custody purloined / The guarded gold."

  2. 2
    make off with belongings of others wordnet
  3. 3
    To commit theft; to thieve. intransitive

    "The Apostle expressly forbiddeth servants to purloin (Titus 2:10)."

Synonyms

All synonyms
filchliftpilferswipeabscondingabsconds

Example

More examples

"This boy tried to purloin my wallet on the streetcar."

Etymology

From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong.

More for "purloin"

Synonyms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsBrowse writing guidesExplore topic clusters