to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment.
to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly, or by chance: He stole my girlfriend.
to move, bring, convey, or put secretly or quietly; smuggle (usually followed by away, from, in, into, etc.): They stole the bicycle into the bedroom to surprise the child.
Baseball. (of a base runner) to gain (a base) without the help of a walk or batted ball, as by running to it during the delivery of a pitch.
Games. to gain (a point, advantage, etc.) by strategy, chance, or luck.
to gain or seize more than one's share of attention in, as by giving a superior performance: The comedian stole the show.
verb (used without object),stole,sto·len,steal·ing.
to commit or practice theft.
to move, go, or come secretly, quietly, or unobserved: She stole out of the house at midnight.
to pass, happen, etc., imperceptibly, gently, or gradually: The years steal by.
Baseball. (of a base runner) to advance a base without the help of a walk or batted ball.
noun
Informal. an act of stealing; theft.
Informal. the thing stolen; booty.
Informal. something acquired at a cost far below its real value; bargain: This dress is a steal at $40.
Baseball. the act of advancing a base by stealing.
Idioms for steal
steal someone's thunder, to appropriate or use another's idea, plan, words, etc.
Origin of steal
First recorded before 900; 1860–65 for def. 5; Middle English stelen, Old English stelan; cognate with German stehlen, Old Norse stela, Gothic stilan
historical usage of steal
Steal and its kindred words come from the Germanic root stel- “to rob, steal” (as in Gothic stilan, Old English, Old Frisian, Old High German stelan, German stehlen ); the root has no certain relatives outside Germanic. The idea of secrecy and concealment is a natural association, as in the words derivative of stel-, such as the noun stealth (Middle English stelthe, stelth, from Germanic stēlithō ), and the verb stalk “to follow or observe secretly or cautiously.” One of the current senses of stalk “to follow or harass someone obsessively over a period of time” dates from the early 1980s.
OTHER WORDS FROM steal
steal·a·ble,adjectivestealer,nounnon·steal·a·ble,adjectiveoutsteal,verb (used with object),out·stole,out·sto·len,out·steal·ing.