steal

Etymology

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną. Compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla, Norwegian Bokmål stjele, Norwegian Nynorsk stela, Sanskrit स्तेय (steya); see below for more. etymology notes 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 (“I 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"

verb

1. (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.
   At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…]. 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202
2. (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.
3. (transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
   He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street.
4. (transitive, colloquial) To acquire at a low price.
   He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value.
5. (transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
6. (intransitive) To move silently or secretly.
   He stole across the room, trying not to wake her.
   At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them[…]. 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202
   United's hopes of mounting a serious response suffered a blow within two minutes of the restart when Evans, who had endured a miserable afternoon, lost concentration and allowed Balotelli to steal in behind him. The defender's only reaction was to haul the Italian down, resulting in an inevitable red card. October 23, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1-6 Man City”, in BBC Sport
7. (transitive) To convey (something) clandestinely.
   The fact that European Cuckoos steal their eggs into the nests of other birds has been generally known for more than a thousand years. 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 41
8. To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
9. (transitive, baseball) To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.
10. (sports, transitive) To dispossess
    However, until Gardner stole the ball from Dean Whitehead in the centre circle with the half-hour approaching, setting off on a run which culminated with a testing long-range shot - with debutant Obafemi Martins lurking, Begovic gathered at the second time of asking - Stoke looked the more credible contenders to break the deadlock. February 12, 2011, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1-0 Stoke”, in BBC
11. (informal, transitive, hyperbolic) To borrow for a short moment.
    Can I steal your pen?
12. (informal, transitive, humorous) take, plagiarize, tell on a joke, use a well-worded expression in one's own parlance or writing

noun

1. The act of stealing.
2. (slang) A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price.
   At this price, this car is a steal.
3. (basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
4. (baseball) A stolen base.
5. (curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
6. (computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.