rob

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɒb/, US /rɑːb/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English robben, borrowed from Old French rober (“to rob, steal, pillage”),^[2][3][4] from a Germanic source,^[3][5] West Germanic *rauba “booty”,^[2] from Proto-Germanic *raubōną (“to rob”),^[2][3] which also gave German rauben and Old English rēafian, the source of reave and bereave.^[3][2][4][6] Word Origins notes that robe comes from the same Germanic root meaning “booty”, clothing being the kind of property taken in a raid.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To steal from, plunder or pillage: probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle; the late 12th century in Etymonline.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

To plunder a place is from about 1230,^[7] and to commit robbery in general from 1297.^[7] To rob Peter to pay Paul is from about 1380, in Wycliffe.^[7][2] In football, to take the ball from an opponent is from 1882.^[7] Rob the cradle is attested from 1864, of drafting young men in the American Civil War, and by 1949 of romances with younger people.^[2] Robber and robbery are from before 1200.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to steal from.^[3]
• c. 1230 – to plunder a place.^[7]
• c. 1380 – rob Peter to pay Paul.^[7]
• 1864 – rob the cradle.^[2]
• 1882 – in football.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To take property from a person or place illegally, by force or threat.
2. To deprive someone unfairly of something: robbed of victory.

Word family

• robber
• unrobbed
• robbery

Related words

• reave
• bereave
• robe
• rover

Usage notes

Rob, a syrup of fruit juice boiled down, is a different word (1578), through Medieval Latin from Arabic rubb.^[7][8][5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press