Definition of: steal

(stēl) v. stole, sto·len, steal·ing v.t.
1. To take from another without right, authority, or permission, and usually in a secret manner.
2. To take or obtain in a surreptitious, artful, or subtle manner: He has stolen the hearts of the people.
3. To move, place, or convey stealthily: with away, from, in, into, etc.
4. In baseball, to reach (a base) without the aid of a hit or error.
—v.i.
5. To commit theft; be a thief.
6. To move secretly or furtively.
—noun
1. The act of stealing or that which is stolen; a theft.
2. In baseball, the act of stealing a base.
3. Any financial transaction or other deal that benefits no one but the originators. ♦ Homophones: steel, stele. [OE stelan]
—steal′er noun
—steal′ing noun Synonyms (verb): abstract, embezzle, extort, filch, pilfer, pillage, plunder, purloin, rob, swindle. To steal is, in law, to commit simple larceny; but the word may be applied to any furtive, covert, or surreptitious taking of anything, whether material or immaterial. To pilfer is to steal petty articles. Filch especially emphasizes the secrecy and slyness of the act, and is ordinarily applied to things of little value, but may apply to the most precious, as in Shakespeare, “he that filches from me my good name.” To purloin is etymologically to carry far away, and is commonly applied to the dishonest removal of articles of value or importance. To rob is, in law, to take feloniously from the person by force or fear, as in highway robbery; it is also applied to the felonious taking of articles of value from places as well as persons generally with suggestion of force and violence. To abstract is to take secretly and feloniously from among other things belonging to another. To embezzle is to appropriate fraudulently to oneself funds received and held in trust. To swindle is to cheat grossly, commonly by false pretenses, but is not a recognized legal offense under that name; one form of swindling, “obtaining money by false pretenses,” is an indictable offense, but much swindling may be carried on under the forms of law. To plunder is to take property from an enemy in time of war, and is not a crime at law. See ABSTRACT. Antonyms: refund, repay, restore, return, surrender.