Steal
(Steal) v. i.
1. To practice, or be guilty of, theft; to commit larceny or theft.
Thou shalt not steal.
Ex. xx. 15. 2. To withdraw, or pass privily; to slip in, along, or away, unperceived; to go or come furtively. Chaucer.
Fixed of mind to avoid further entreaty, and to fly all company, one night she stole away.
Sir P. Sidney.
From whom you now must steal, and take no leave.
Shak.
A soft and solemn breathing sound
Rose like a steam of rich, distilled perfumes,
And stole upon the air.
Milton. Stealer
(Steal"er) n.
1. One who steals; a thief.
2. (Shipbuilding) The endmost plank of a strake which stops short of the stem or stern.
Stealing
(Steal"ing), n.
1. The act of taking feloniously the personal property of another without his consent and knowledge; theft; larceny.
2. That which is stolen; stolen property; — chiefly used in the plural.
Stealingly
(Steal"ing*ly), adv. By stealing, or as by stealing, furtively, or by an invisible motion. Sir P.
Sidney.
Stealth
(Stealth) n. [OE. staple. See Steal, v. t.]
1. The act of stealing; theft. [Obs.]
The owner proveth the stealth to have been committed upon him by such an outlaw.
Spenser. 2. The thing stolen; stolen property. [Obs.] "Sluttish dens . . . serving to cover stealths." Sir W. Raleigh.
3. The bringing to pass anything in a secret or concealed manner; a secret procedure; a clandestine
practice or action; — in either a good or a bad sense.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Pope.
The monarch, blinded with desire of wealth,
With steel invades the brother's life by stealth.
Dryden.
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
Shak. Stealthful
(Stealth"ful) a. Given to stealth; stealthy. [Obs.] — Stealth"ful*ly, adv. [Obs.] — Stealth"ful*ness,
n. [Obs.]
Stealthily
(Stealth"i*ly) adv. In a stealthy manner.
Stealthiness
(Stealth"i*ness), n. The state, quality, or character of being stealthy; stealth.
Stealthlike
(Stealth"like`) a. Stealthy; sly. Wordsworth.
