Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To steal, especially in a stealthy way. synonym: steal.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To put off; prolong; delay.
- To set back or aside; put away; remove.
- To remove, carry off, or take for one's self; hence, to take by theft; filch; steal.
- To practise theft.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To practice theft; to steal.
- transitive verb To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
convert the property of another, often in breach of trust; toappropriate wrongfully. - verb intransitive To
commit theft ; tothieve .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make off with belongings of others
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
French history 2010
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
French Word-A-Day: 2010
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Yes, certainly, the cats have to get a bit more crafty if they want to purloin their provisions ahead of time.
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
Travel 2010
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
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Yes, certainly, the cats have to get a bit more crafty if they want to purloin their provisions ahead of time.
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He decides to purloin the urn and find out how it got into the back of that cab.
Ten of the best taxis in literature John Mullan 2010
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
tourism 2010
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In court papers, the artist group says it believed they had permission to remove the painting as long as they didn't attempt to purloin any scrap metal.
If You Take Street Art Off the Street, Is It Still Art? Matthew Dolan 2011
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Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick
French Destinations 2010
effigy commented on the word purloin
(n): The meowing muscle of felines.
October 23, 2008
yarb commented on the word purloin
Ha! Purrfect.
October 23, 2008
bilby commented on the word purloin
"My pager had delivered a disconcerting message; the unstealable had just been stolen. It was not the first time the Martin Chuzzlewit manuscript had been purloined."
- Jasper Fforde, 'The Eyre Affair'.
October 27, 2008
Telofy commented on the word purloin
Confound it! Today I missed a perfectly fine opportunity to use this marvelous word.
December 12, 2009