Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; pillage.
  • intransitive verb To seize wrongfully or by force; steal.
  • intransitive verb To take booty; rob.
  • noun The act or practice of plundering.
  • noun Property stolen by fraud or force; booty.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Household or personal effects; baggage; luggage.
  • noun The act of plundering; robbery.
  • noun That which is taken from an enemy by force; pillage; prey; spoil; booty.
  • noun Hence, that which is taken by theft, robbery, or fraud: as, the cashier escaped with his plunder.
  • To take goods or valuables forcibly from; pillage; spoil; strip; rob.
  • To take by pillage or open force: as, the enemy plundered all the goods they found.
  • Synonyms To despoil, sack, rifle, ravage. See pillage, n.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To take the goods of by force, or without right; to pillage; to spoil; to sack; to strip; to rob.
  • transitive verb To take by pillage; to appropriate forcibly.
  • noun The act of plundering or pillaging; robbery. See Syn. of pillage.
  • noun That which is taken by open force from an enemy; pillage; spoil; booty; also, that which is taken by theft or fraud.
  • noun Slang, Southwestern U.S. Personal property and effects; baggage or luggage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
  • verb intransitive To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
  • verb transitive To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
  • noun An instance of plundering
  • noun The loot attained by plundering
  • noun slang, dated baggage; luggage

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun goods or money obtained illegally
  • verb destroy and strip of its possession
  • verb plunder (a town) after capture
  • verb steal goods; take as spoils
  • verb take illegally; of intellectual property

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German plündern, from Middle High German plundern, from Middle Low German plunder, household goods.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1632 (during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War), from Hutterisch plunderen ("to plunder, originally "to take away household furniture"") (Dutch plunderen) from plunder ("household goods, clothes ("lumber, baggage," 14c.)"); akin to Middle Dutch plunder ("household goods"), West Frisian plunje and Dutch plunje ("clothes").

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Comments

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  • The longest common word that becomes another word when said in pig Latin (UNDERPLAY).

    --Will Shortz's intro to "Wordplay: A curious dictionary of language oddities" by Chris Cole.

    May 17, 2008