robbery

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈrɒb.ər.i/, US /ˈrɑː.bɚ.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French roberie (“robbery, theft”),^[2][3][4] from rober, to rob (see rob), and -erie (see -ery).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or practice of seizing property by violence or threat: about 1200.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

An instance of robbery is from 1297,^[5] and booty or plunder from about 1330, now obsolete.^[5] Figuratively, an excessive price or a one-sided deal is called robbery from about 1863.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – robbery.^[5][2]
• 1297 – a robbery.^[5]
• c. 1330 – booty (obsolete).^[5]
• c. 1863 – an excessive demand.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (law) The crime of taking property from a person by force or the threat of force.
2. An act of robbing.
3. (informal) An outrageously high price.

Word family

• antirobbery
• highway robbery
• armed robbery

Related words

• rob
• robber

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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