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rob
1[rob]
verb (used with object)
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
to deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due.
They robbed her of her inheritance.
to plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
to deprive of something unjustly or injuriously.
The team was robbed of a home run hitter when the umpire called it a foul ball. The shock robbed him of his speech.
Mining., to remove ore or coal from (a pillar).
verb (used without object)
to commit or practice robbery.
Rob
2[rob]
noun
a male given name, form of Robert.
rob
/ rɒb /
verb
(tr) to take something from (someone) illegally, as by force or threat of violence
to plunder (a house, shop, etc)
(tr) to deprive unjustly
to be robbed of an opportunity
Other Word Forms
- unrobbed adjective
- robber noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of rob1
Idioms and Phrases
rob Peter to pay Paul, to take something from one person or thing to pay one's debt or hypothetical debt to another, as to sacrifice one's health by overworking.
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
When the Irish poet died suddenly in 2013, at age 74, a benign literary presence was robbed from us.
Ravel’s death in 1937 was hastened by a rare form of dementia that robbed him of the ability to compose.
A massive operation has been launched to find the men who robbed the van in the heart of Bengaluru city in daylight.
“No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”
“No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain.”
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Related Words
When To Use
To rob is to steal, especially by force or through threats of violence.A person who robs is called a robber, and the act of robbing is called robbery.A robber can rob a person or a place, such as a house or business. The act of robbing a person on the street is often called mugging. The act of robbing a bank is called bank robbery and a person who does it is called a bank robber. Armed robbery involves robbing a person or place while armed with a weapon.Rob and steal are often used interchangeably in terms of their general meaning, but their use within a sentence often differs. The word rob often focuses on the victim of the theft (whether it’s a person or a place), whereas steal often focuses on what has been stolen. So you can rob a bank, a person, or a house, whereas you steal money, diamonds, or cars. A bank robber doesn’t steal banks (unless they’re Carmen Sandiego, maybe)—they steal money from banks.However, the word rob is sometimes followed by the word of and the thing that’s been taken, as in She robbed me of thousands of dollars! The word rob can also be used in a kind of figurative way meaning to unfairly deprive someone of something, especially something abstract or intangible. If someone prevents you from doing something, you can say they robbed you of the chance to do it. Death is said to rob us of our loved ones. If someone loses a competition not because they were fairly defeated but because of some technicality, they might say “I was robbed!”Unrelatedly, the name Rob is short for Robert.Example: The suspect is accused of robbing seven banks during a three-month period.
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.
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