Library / English Dictionary

STEAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: stole    , stolen   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A stolen base; an instance in which a base runner advances safely during the delivery of a pitch (without the help of a hit or walk or passed ball or wild pitch)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("steal" is a kind of...):

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Derivation:

steal (steal a base)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An advantageous purchase

Example:

the stock was a real buy at that price

Synonyms:

bargain; buy; steal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("steal" is a kind of...):

purchase (something acquired by purchase)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "steal"):

song (a very small sum)

travel bargain (a bargain rate for travellers on commercial routes (usually air routes))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Steal a base

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "steal" is one way to...):

advance; gain; gain ground; get ahead; make headway; pull ahead; win (obtain advantages, such as points, etc.)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

steal (a stolen base; an instance in which a base runner advances safely during the delivery of a pitch (without the help of a hit or walk or passed ball or wild pitch))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move stealthily

Example:

The ship slipped away in the darkness

Synonyms:

slip; steal

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "steal" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Also:

steal away (leave furtively and stealthily)

Derivation:

stealing (avoiding detection by moving carefully)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take without the owner's consent

Example:

This author stole entire paragraphs from my dissertation

Synonyms:

rip; rip off; steal

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "steal" is one way to...):

take (take by force)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "steal"):

abstract; cabbage; filch; hook; lift; nobble; pilfer; pinch; purloin; snarf; sneak; swipe (make off with belongings of others)

lift; rustle (take illegally)

shoplift (steal in a store)

pirate (copy illegally; of published material)

lift; plagiarise; plagiarize (take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property)

bag; pocket (take unlawfully)

defalcate; embezzle; malversate; misappropriate; peculate (appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use)

rob (take something away by force or without the consent of the owner)

cop; glom; hook; knock off; snitch; thieve (take by theft)

walk off (take without permission)

hustle; pluck; roll (sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity)

loot; plunder (take illegally; of intellectual property)

burglarise; burglarize; burgle; heist (commit a burglary; enter and rob a dwelling)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sentence example:

They steal the money

Derivation:

stealer (a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it)

stealing (the act of taking something from someone unlawfully)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Do you tell me that during these long ten weeks of agony the stolen papers were within the very room with me all the time?”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He called it "The Wine of Life," and the wine of it, that had stolen into his brain when he wrote it, stole into his brain now as he read it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was not until it had settled again that I dared to steal onwards upon my journey.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He steals softly over the grass, careful to make no sound; he pauses—fancying she has stirred: he withdraws: not for worlds would he be seen.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I didn't beg, borrow, or steal it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

From time to time they stole glances at Wolf Larsen, and I could see that they were apprehensive of the man.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry’s bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening!

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of pleasure.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

(for example, insisting that people are trying to harm him/her or steal from him/her)?

(NPI - Have Beliefs That You Know are Not True, NCI Thesaurus)

The thought stole into Alleyne's heart as he looked upon the autumnal country side and marvelled at its beauty.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)