“steals” is a form of
steal
/stiːl/ verb, noun
Also a form of stale
Forms steals stealing stole stolen stealest stolest stealeth
- verb (transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. “Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery.”
- verb (transitive, of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.) To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement. “They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer.”
- verb (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully. “He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.”
- verb (transitive, informal, figurative) To acquire at a low price. “He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.”
- verb (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
- verb (intransitive) To move silently or secretly; to pass unnoticed. “He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.”
- verb (transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.
- verb To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
- noun The act of stealing.
- noun (slang, figurative) A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it. “At this price, this car is a steal.”
- noun (basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
- noun (baseball) A stolen base.
- noun (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
- noun (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.
Synonyms
sneak abduct abstract appropriate bag bandit bash and grab bone boost burgle burglarize borrow cheat chore commandeer confiscate convert cop cozen crib bargain buy slip
Antonyms
receive purchase buy earn donate bestow grant return rip-off
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.
Cognate with Bavarian stöhn (“to steal”), Dutch stelen (“to steal”), German and Low German stehlen (“to steal”), Luxembourgish stielen (“to steal”), Danish stjæle (“to steal”), Faroese stjala (“to steal”), Icelandic stela (“to steal”), Norwegian Bokmål stjele (“to steal”), Norwegian Nynorsk stela, stele (“to steal”), Swedish stjäla (“to steal”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (stilan, “to steal”). For the meaning development compare with Russian красть (krastʹ, “to steal”) and Russian кра́сться (krástʹsja, “to stalk, to prowl, to slink”).
Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include
* Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”)
* Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- (“to stretch”): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell (“to confuse, mess up, mix, wrap up”), Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ (steljǫ, “I spread out (bed, roof)”), Ancient Greek τηλία (tēlía, “playing table”)
* Proto-Indo-European *tsel- (“to sneak”): compare Sanskrit त्सरति (tsárati, “creep, sneak up on”) and other forms under Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"
Webster’s 1913
- noun A handle; a stale, or stele. [Archaic or Prov. Eng.]
- verb To take and carry away, feloniously; to take without right or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to steal the personal goods of another.
- verb To withdraw or convey clandestinely (reflexive); hence, to creep furtively, or to insinuate.
- verb To practice, or be guilty of, theft; to commit larceny or theft.
Etymology [See Stale a handle.]
Etymology [OE. stelen, AS. stelan; akin to OFries. stela, D. stelen, OHG. stelan, G. stehlen, Icel. stela, SW. stjäla, Dan. stiæle, Goth. stilan.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “steal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details