purloin
[per-loin, pur-loin]
verb (used with object)
to take dishonestly; steal; filch; pilfer.
verb (used without object)
to commit theft; steal.
RELATED WORDS
pilfer, filch, misappropriate, embezzle, burglarize, shoplift, poach, pillage, cheat, pinch, heist, thieve, plunder, appropriate, lift, take, snitch, defraud, swindle
Nearby words
- purl,
- purler,
- purlieu,
- purlin,
- purlin plate,
- purpart,
- purparty,
- purple,
- purple bacteria,
- purple beech
Origin of purloin
1400–50; late Middle English purloynen < Anglo-French purloigner to put off, remove, equivalent to pur- (< Latin prō- pro-1) + -loigner, derivative of loin at a distance, far off < Latin longē
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for purloin
purloin
verb
Word Origin for purloin
C15: from Old French porloigner to put at a distance, from por- for + loin distant, from Latin longus long
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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purloin
mid-14c., "remove, misappropriate," from Anglo-French purloigner "remove," Old French porloigner "put off, retard, delay, drag out; be far away," from por- (from Latin pro- "forth;" see pro-) + Old French loing "far," from Latin longe, from longus (see long (adj.)). Sense of "to steal" (1540s) is a development in English. Related: Purloined; purloining.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper