burglary
[bur-gluh-ree]
- the felony of breaking into and entering the house of another at night with intent to steal, extended by statute to cover the breaking into and entering of any of various buildings, by night or day.
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Origin of burglary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
robbery, heist, crime, larceny, theft, break-in, caper, thieving, prowl, sting, pilferage, housebreakingExamples from the Web for burglary
Contemporary Examples
The more accomplished students took classes in safe-cracking, burglary, blackmail, and confidence games.
Meet 'The Queen of Thieves' Marm Mandelbaum, New York City's First Mob BossJ. North Conway
September 7, 2014
Identified only as Darius, the teen has been arrested for burglary several times in recent weeks.
They were arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges of burglary, reckless endangerment and jumping from a structure.
Hero or Criminal? James Brady, the WTC Ironworker Who Jumped Off the BuildingMichael Daly
March 25, 2014
Burglary, something he hated, seemed to be the only way to find evidence.
The Domestic Spying of Hoover’s FBI Is an Eerie Prequel to the NSA’s Snooping TodayBetty Medsger
March 23, 2014
It looked like Greg was trying to stop a burglary, and was killed in the ensuing confrontation.
Historical Examples
I should think he was a man that would be, from the way he behaved about the burglary.
Questionable ShapesWilliam Dean Howells
It's burglary on the high seas, and I'll go fifty miles to see him hanged.'
The Pirate and The Three CuttersFrederick Marryat
I am convinced that I was wrong when I made the charge of burglary against him.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School DetectiveEllis Parker Butler
But it is usually used when it is not intended that the burglary ever be discussed.
There can be no doubt but that the burglary is the work of professional cracksmen.
The VerbalistThomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres)
burglary
- English criminal law the crime of either entering a building as a trespasser with the intention of committing theft, rape, grievous bodily harm, or damage, or, having entered as a trespasser, of committing one or more of these offences
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for burglary
n.
c.1200, Anglo-Latin burglaria (see burglar).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper