robbery

The act or practice of robbing.

Noun

  1. The act or practice of robbing.
  2. The offense of taking or attempting to take the property of another by force or threat of force.
    • bank robbery

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hrew-? Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp-der. Proto-Germanic *raubōną Frankish *raubōnbor. Late Latin raubāre Old French rober Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Old French -ie Old French roberiebor. Middle English robberie English robbery From Middle English robberie, robry, roberie, from Old French roberie, from the verb rober (“to steal; to pillage”) + -ie. Ultimately from unattested Frankish *raubōn. By surface analysis, rob + -ery. Compare Dutch roverij (“robbery”), Norwegian Bokmål røveri (“robbery”), German Räuberei (“robbery, banditry”). Displaced native Old English rēaflāc.

Forms

robberies

Hyponyms

piracy armed robbery holdup aggravated robbery highway robbery mugging carjacking extortion stick-up blagging steaming dacoity

Related

rob robber

Derived

antirobbery armed robbery bank robbery daylight robbery fair exchange is no robbery highway robbery Nairoberry nonrobbery strong-arm robbery