steal
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
steal
- /stiːl/
Sounds like steel, stele · Rhymes with -iːl
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *stelaną
Proto-West Germanic *stelan
Old English stelan
Middle English stelen
English steal
Inherited from Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.
Cognate with Bavarian stöhn (“to steal”), Dutch stelen (“to steal”), German and Low German stehlen (“to steal”), Luxembourgish stielen (“to steal”), Danish stjæle (“to steal”), Faroese stjala (“to steal”), Icelandic stela (“to steal”), Norwegian Bokmål stjele (“to steal”), Norwegian Nynorsk stela, stele (“to steal”), Swedish stjäla (“to steal”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (stilan, “to steal”). 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 (“to 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"
verb steals · stealing · stole · stolen · steal
- To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.
- To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement. They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.
- To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully. He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.
- To acquire at a low price. He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
- To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
- To move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed. He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
- To convey (something) clandestinely. The fact that European Cuckoos steal their eggs into the nests of other birds has been generally known for more than a thousand years.
- To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely. They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.
- 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.
- To dispossess. 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
- To borrow for a short moment. Can I steal your pen?
- To take or retell someone else’s joke; to use a clever phrase or expression from someone else in one's own speaking or writing.
Similar: steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab, bone, boost, burgle, burglarize, borrow
noun steals
- The act of stealing.
- A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it. Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money
- A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
- A stolen base.
- Scoring in an end without the hammer.
- A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.
