embezzle
/ɪmˈbɛz.əl/ verb
Forms embezzles embezzling embezzled
- verb (law, business) To steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from the organisation for which one works.
Synonyms
defalcate have one's hand in the till misappropriate peculate skim malversate
Etymology
From Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman embesiler, embesillier, embeseillier (“to steal, cause to disappear”), from em- + Old French besillier (“to torment, destroy, gouge”), of unknown origin.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To appropriate fraudulently to one's own use, as property intrusted to one's care; to apply to one's private uses by a breach of trust; as, to embezzle money held in trust.
- verb To misappropriate; to waste; to dissipate in extravagance. [Obs.]
Etymology [Norm. F. embeseiller to destroy; cf. OF. besillier to ill treat, ravage, destroy. Cf. Bezzle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “embezzle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details