steal

Definition of steal

Pronunciation

• enPR: enPR: stēl, IPA: /stiːl/, SAMPA: /sti:l/
• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophones: steel

Etymology

Old English stelan

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To illegally, or without the owner's permission, take possession of something by surreptitiously taking or carrying it away.
   
   The government agents stole my money.
   Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.
   
   
2. (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
3. (transitive, colloquial) To acquire at a low price.
   
   He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
   
   
4. (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer.
5. (intransitive) To move silently or secretly.
   
   He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
   
   
6. (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.

Synonyms

• (to illegally take possession of): (Australia, slang): flog, (Cockney rhyming slang): half-inch, (slang): knock off, (slang): jack, lift, nick, pinch, pocket, rob, thieve, confiscate, convert

Troponyms

• shoplift

See also

• burglarize
• burgle
• confiscate
• pickpocket
• pilfer
• steal away

Noun

steal (plural steals)

1. The act of stealing.
2. A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price.
   
   At this price, this car is a steal.
   
   
3. (basketball, field hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
4. (baseball) A stolen base.
5. (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
6. (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs

Synonyms

• (merchandise available at a very attractive price): bargain

Anagrams

• Anagrams of aelst
• least
• leats
• salet
• setal
• slate
• stale
• stela
• taels
• tales
• teals
• tesla