steal

Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.

At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…].

1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202:

"I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.

1987 November 8, Ron Hansen, “CHILDREN'S BOOKS; DISCOVERING THE OPPOSITE SEX”, in The New York Times:

But lawksamercy! While she is here, her youngest is, by pure chance, stolen away by a heroin addict who sells children for adoption by lustful Arabs.

1996, Francis Wheen, Lord Gnome's Literary Companion, page 74:

Admitting to stealing the vegetables, Mohammed said, “Boss ah tief the thing, but not me alone.” The bhaigans were valued $100.

2015 February 7, Azard Ali, “Mother put on a bond for stealing bhaigans”, in Trinidad and Tobago Newsday:

(transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it.

They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.

(transitive, of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.) To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.

words; a look; credit; words; a look; credit

He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.

Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind too often from its steady pursuit of any subject.

1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:

Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly,[…]and do not think to steal it.

1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Great Place”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

(transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.

He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.

He got that car for two grand under book? Wow, he stole that thing!

(transitive, informal, figurative) To acquire at a low price.

(transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.

He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.

"Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.

1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC:

A kind of tense peace, like the centre of a cyclone, descended. Not for long, of course, for already stealing upon one's hearing would be the staccato bark and thrust of the banker bringing up the rear.

1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:

United's hopes of mounting a serious response suffered a blow within two minutes of the restart when Evans, who had endured a miserable afternoon, lost concentration and allowed Balotelli to steal in behind him. The defender's only reaction was to haul the Italian down, resulting in an inevitable red card.

2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport:

(intransitive) To move silently or secretly.

The fact that European Cuckoos steal their eggs into the nests of other birds has been generally known for more than a thousand years.

1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 41:

(transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.

They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.

1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

He will steal himself into a man's favour.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:

To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.

(transitive, baseball) To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.

However, until Gardner stole the ball from Dean Whitehead in the centre circle with the half-hour approaching, setting off on a run which culminated with a testing long-range shot - with debutant Obafemi Martins lurking, Begovic gathered at the second time of asking - Stoke looked the more credible contenders to break the deadlock.

2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1-0 Stoke”, in BBC:

Can I steal your pen?

(informal, transitive, hyperbolic) To borrow for a short moment.

(informal, transitive, humorous) take, plagiarize, tell on a joke, use a well-worded expression in one's own parlance or writing

en-verb

steal (third-person singular simple present steals, present participle stealing, simple past stole, past participle stolen or (nonstandard, colloquial) stole)

steals (present singular third-person)
stealing (participle present)
stole (past)
stolen (participle past)
stole (colloquial nonstandard participle past)

close the stable door after the horse has been stolen

don't teach your grandmother to steal sheep

lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen

открадвам

to get or effect surreptitiously or artfully

偷垒

baseball: to advance safely during the pitch

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.
Compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla, Norwegian Bokmål stjele, Norwegian Nynorsk stela, Sanskrit स्तेय (steya); see below for more.
For the meaning development compare with Russian красть (krastʹ, “to steal”) and Russian кра́сться (krástʹsja, “to stalk, to prowl, to slink”).
etymology notes
Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include
* Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”)
* Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- (“to stretch”): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell (“I confuse, mess up, mix, wrap up”), Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ (steljǫ, “I spread out (bed, roof)”), Ancient Greek τηλία (tēlía, “playing table”)
* Proto-Indo-European *tsel- (“to sneak”): compare Sanskrit त्सरति (tsárati, “creep, sneak up on”) and other forms under Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"


steal

Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money

At this price, this car is a steal.

He got that thing for just twenty bucks? What a steal!

(slang, figurative) A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it.

(basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.

(curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.

(computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.

промоция

merchandise available at a very attractive price