embezzle
[em-bez-uh l]
- to appropriate fraudulently to one's own use, as money or property entrusted to one's care.
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Origin of embezzle
1375–1425; late Middle English embesilen < Anglo-French embeseiller to destroy, make away with, equivalent to em- em-1 + beseiller, Old French beseiller to destroy < ?
Synonyms
See more synonyms for embezzle on Thesaurus.commisappropriate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for embezzler
Contemporary Examples
She plays the kidnapped wife of an embezzler opposite Tim Robbins, John Hawkes, and Isla Fisher.
Historical Examples
The rumors, always contradicted, that the embezzler had been caught!
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
It becomes you well—you, the cheat, the embezzler, the swindler.
The Mystery of Lincoln's InnRobert Machray
Surely, he had not been the embezzler, the libertine, the assassin!
The Key to YesterdayCharles Neville Buck
Those are the only two places where an embezzler is comparatively safe these days.
On Secret ServiceWilliam Nelson Taft
These men who were robbed say that you are an embezzler, a thief.
The Taming of Red Butte WesternFrancis Lynde
embezzle
- to convert (money or property entrusted to one) fraudulently to one's own use
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Word Origin
C15: from Anglo-French embeseiller to destroy, from Old French beseiller to make away with, of uncertain origin
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 embezzler
n.
1660s, agent noun from embezzle.
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embezzle
v.
early 15c., from Anglo-French embesiler "to steal, cause to disappear" (c.1300), from Old French em- (see en- (1)) + besillier "torment, destroy, gouge," of unknown origin. Sense of "to dispose of fraudulently" is first recorded 1580s. Related: Embezzled; embezzling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper