purloin
/pəːˈlɔɪn
/verb [with object] formal or humorous
Steal (something): he must have managed to purloin a copy of the key...
- Their images are purloined, confiscated, appropriated, stolen.
- Were old trees being purloined, appropriated wrongfully, when they were sectioned by scientists?
- Bits of our constitution were actually purloined from the United States Constitution.
Derivatives
purloiner
- I have to out myself as a purloiner of office supplies, a loafer, a personal phone call maker.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'put at a distance'): from Anglo-Norman French purloigner 'put away', from pur- 'forth' + loign 'far'.