purloin
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
purloinsimple
-
purloinssimple
-
have purloinedperfect
-
has purloinedperfect
-
am purloiningprogressive
-
are purloiningprogressive
-
is purloiningprogressive
-
have been purloiningperfect progressive
-
has been purloiningperfect progressive
Past
-
purloinedsimple
-
had purloinedperfect
-
was purloiningprogressive
-
were purloiningprogressive
-
had been purloiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of purloin
First recorded in 1325–50; Middle English purloynen, from Anglo-French purloigner, Old French porloigner “to put off, remove,” equivalent to pur- (from Latin prō- pro- 1 ) + -loigner, derivative of loin “at a distance, far off,” from Latin longē “a long way off,” adverb of longus “long” ( see origin at long 1 ( def. ))
Explanation
You can use the verb purloin to mean "steal" or "take," especially if it's done in a sneaky way. If you sneak a dollar out of your mom's purse, you purloin it. Kids might purloin apples from a neighbor's tree, and a crooked cashier might purloin cash from her boss's convenience store. Originally, purloin meant "put at a distance" in Middle English. The word comes from the Anglo-French purloigner, "put away."
Vocabulary lists containing purloin
To Kill a Mockingbird
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Frankenstein
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Tolkien Reading Day, List 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is the first to show some T cells purloin a protein called CD20 from the surface of B cells, he adds.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 29, 2022
A series of turns leads Bunton, during an ill-conceived trip to London to make his case against the BBC license fee to Parliament and the media, to purloin the Wellington portrait from the National Gallery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
Nandor immediately uses his new position to purloin a magical cloak to help him hit on the front desk clerk at his gym.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2021
Or, to purloin a line from his novel: Are we all characters in a Beckett play directed by Sartre?
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2018
He hesitated, then stomped back the way he’d come, stopping to purloin a clean shirt from another cabin.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
With a fee that she purloins from a church collection plate, she implores him for help and he agrees, as he learns more about this young girl’s challenging childhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
Desperate to buy her father out of debtor’s prison, she purloins a copy of his thesis and sets out to win the Great God Contest herself.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2015
The best exemplar of the species is probably E. W. Hornung’s Raffles, who was educated at the best schools, plays cricket for England, moves among the upper classes and discreetly purloins their jewels.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2012
To emphasise the veracity of its spooky goings-on, it purloins real events such as the 2004 tsunami and the 7 July London bombings, and even subtitles its foreigners.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 31, 2011
He boldly enters our camp at night and purloins a savory ham or rifles the larder and eats a pound of butter.
From Hunting with the Bow and Arrow by Pope, Saxton
Users, including Fortune 500 companies, are turning to unregulated, possibly purloined “open weight” Chinese AI models to save money and avoid exposing their data to the big domestic labs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
But the moment passed, and in 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its own plutonium-based atomic bomb — largely by re-creating Hanford 1,000 miles east of Moscow using blueprints purloined from the Manhattan Project.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
He eluded an FBI manhunt for two weeks while he supplied copies of the purloined report to more than a dozen other major newspapers across the country, including the Los Angeles Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
Stealthily, from its roost on the ceiling, one bat reached out and purloined his sun hat.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
It knew thief and steal and, maybe, purloined.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
With regard to a Hemingway purloining on “Love and Theft”: “Dylan implants only part of the original sentence, while presumably expecting us to cough up the whole.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
A simple but effective way to stop auto bandits from purloining your key fob signal is to use a Faraday bag or pouch.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
And those who get their kicks from purloining stuff that they’re expected to pay for were especially grumpy.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 21, 2014
One of the rare politicians who paid a price for purloining was Joe Biden, whom I profiled in the magazine last week.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 29, 2014
The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
