purloin

From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈlɔɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪn

purloin (third-person singular simple present purloins, present participle purloining, simple past and past participle purloined)

1. (transitive) To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
   • Milton

     Had from his wakeful custody purloined / The guarded gold.

   • 1900, One Who Was in It, chapter 8, in Kruger's Secret Service, pages 168-169:

     Probably my acquaintance, Mr Blank, therefore, would have been able, if he had so wished to do, to purloin the papers which he mentioned.

2. (intransitive) To commit theft; to thieve.
   • 2006 [1622], William Gouge, Of Domestical Duties, →ISBN, page 454:

     The Apostle expressly forbiddeth servants to purloin (Titus 2:10).