plunder

An instance of plundering.

Noun

  1. An instance of plundering.
  2. The loot attained by plundering.
    • The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.

    Synonyms: boodle booty fang gizzit haul hot property loot pelf pickings pillage plunder prigging sack spoil spoils swag

  3. Baggage; luggage.
    • […] till a long-legged boy brought him out of his revery, by an offer to carry his “plunder,” in whatsoever direction he might desire to direct his steps. - 1880, The Peterson Magazine, volumes 77-78, page 215:
  4. The crime of amassing ill-gotten wealth by public officials through a combination or series of overt criminal acts.

Origin

Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”). The Philippine definition...

Related

manubial

Derived

economic plunder house plunder plunderless

Verb

  1. To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
    • The mercenaries plundered the small town.
    • The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.
    • Now Azaēlos, the king of Syria, made war on the Israelites and their king Jehu, and ravaged the eastern parts of the country across the Jordan […] spreading fire everywhere and plundering everything and inflicting...

    Synonyms: ravage

  2. To take (goods) by pillage.
    • The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.
  3. To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
    • “Now to plunder, mateys!” screamed a buccaneer, to cries of “Arrgh!” and “Aye!” all around.
  4. To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
    • The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.
  5. To take unexpectedly.
    • The Serb teed up Steve Davis, who crossed low for Graziano Pellè to plunder his fifth league goal of the campaign. - 2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in...

Forms

plunders plundering plundered

Derived

plunderable plunderage plunderer plunderess plunderfish plunderingly plunderous plunderphonics plundersome replunder unplundered