purloin

From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈlɔɪn/

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪn

purloin (third-person singular simple present purloins, present participle purloining, simple past and past participle purloined)

1. (transitive) To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Had from his wakeful custody purloined / The guarded gold.

   • 1900, One Who Was in It, chapter 8, in Kruger's Secret Service, pages 168–169:

     Probably my acquaintance, Mr Blank, therefore, would have been able, if he had so wished to do, to purloin the papers which he mentioned.

   • 1916, A. Cecil Curtis, transl., chapter 4, in Royal Highness, translation of Königliche Hoheit by Thomas Mann:

     The refreshment room was full of chatter and babble, which attracted everybody's envious glances. Some one had left his set in the middle of the dance, purloined a sandwich from the buffet, and was now chewing away proudly as he swerved and stamped, to the amusement of the rest.

2. (intransitive) To commit theft; to thieve.
   • 1622, William Gouge, Of Domestical Duties, published 2006, →ISBN, page 454:

     The Apostle expressly forbiddeth servants to purloin (Titus 2:10).