purloin

verb pur·loin \ (ˌ)pər-ˈlȯin , ˈpər-ˌlȯin \

Updated on: 24 Mar 2018

Definition of purloin

transitive verb

: to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust

—

purloiner

noun

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Examples of purloin in a Sentence

the studio stepped up security, fearing that someone might attempt to purloin a copy of the script for the show's season finale

Recent Examples of purloin from the Web

Enlisting one of the diner's regular customers, Benny (Azim Rizk), a mechanic who has the hots for her, as an accomplice, Priscilla manages to get away with purloining the loot.

— frank scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Los Angeles Overnight': Film Review," 9 Mar. 2018
Moreover, Trump’s base clearly loved the idea of Russians purloining and publishing information that would damage Clinton.

— colin campbell, New Republic, "The Open Secret About Trump’s Collusion With Russia," 21 Dec. 2017
People used to laugh at my suggestion that computer viruses were being planted and user info was being purloined by the same companies who sell us security software.

— jonathan takiff, Philly.com, "Kaspersky's KGB links make it a bad choice for U.S. consumers," 18 Oct. 2017
By happenstance or not, in the days and weeks after the meeting with the Russian lawyer, emails purloined from Democratic computers were made public, which investigators tied to Russian hacking.

— peter baker, Alaska Dispatch News, "Conspiracy or coincidence? A Trump campaign timeline open to interpretation," 13 July 2017
In other works, Parker has purloined objects, squashed them, melted them down and recast them, scratched them, and fired bullets at them.

— andrew dickson, The New Yorker, "On the Campaign Trail with Cornelia Parker, the U.K.’s Official Election Artist," 7 June 2017
The attacks on Friday are likely to raise significant questions about whether the growing number of countries developing and stockpiling cyberweapons can avoid having those same tools purloined and turned against their own citizens.

— nicole perlroth and david e. sanger, New York Times, "Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen N.S.A. Tool," 12 May 2017
The petition to the high court comes from a San Antonio man whom the RIAA accused of using the Kazaa file-sharing program to purloin its members’ music in 2006.

— david kravets, WIRED, "Supreme Court Asked to Weigh RIAA Legal Fee Flap," 24 Mar. 2008
As his frustration grew, the mysterious trickle from WikiLeaks of the Democratic National Committee’s and John Podesta’s purloined e-mails were continuing in a deliberate, steadily ominous flow.

— howard blum, The Hive, "How Ex-Spy Christopher Steele Compiled His Explosive Trump-Russia Dossier," 19 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'purloin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of purloin

Middle English, to put away, misappropriate, from Anglo-French purluigner to prolong, postpone, set aside, from pur- forward + luin, loing at a distance, from Latin longe, from longus long — more at purchase, long

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First Known Use: 15th century

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purloin Synonyms

Phrases

make away with, make off with, run off with, walk off with;

Synonym Discussion of purloin

steal, pilfer, filch, purloin mean to take from another without right or without detection. steal may apply to any surreptitious taking of something and differs from the other terms by commonly applying to intangibles as well as material things.