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definitions

burgle

[bur-guh l]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR burgle ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with or without object), bur·gled, bur·gling.

to burglarize.

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RELATED WORDS

rip, bereave, raid, cheat, lose, plunder, mug, defraud, strip, divest, loot, hijack, ransack, interrupt, steal, rummage, trash, burglarize, pillage, rob

Origin of burgle

First recorded in 1870–75; back formation from burglar
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for burgle

Historical Examples of burgle

  • Well, he must manage it, "burgle" his own house, if necessary.

    Marriage la mode

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

  • But what did they want to go and burgle a plaster figure for?

  • Being about to burgle the bank, it's well not to be seen together—eh?

  • She will burgle your office: she will have you attacked and garotted at night in the street.

    Augustus Does His Bit

    George Bernard Shaw

  • Has it ever struck you that the hostel would be a very easy place to burgle?

British Dictionary definitions for burgle

burgle

verb

to commit burglary upon (a house, etc)
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 burgle
v.

1869, verbal back-formation from burglar (q.v.). Related: Burgled; burgling. Cf. burglarize.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper