rob S3 /rɒb $ rɑːb/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle robbed , present participle robbing ) [transitive]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: rober ]
1 . to steal money or property from a person, bank etc ⇨ steal , burgle :
They killed four policemen while robbing a bank.
A 77-year-old woman was robbed at knifepoint.
rob somebody of something
They threatened to shoot him and robbed him of all his possessions.
► You say that someone robs a person or place. Do not say that someone robs an object or an amount of money. Use steal : He stole cash and valuables worth $500,000.
2 . rob Peter to pay Paul to take money away from someone or something that needs it in order to pay someone else or use it for something else:
Taking money out of the hospital’s budget for this is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul.
3 . rob somebody blind informal to steal everything someone has:
The minute your back’s turned, they’ll rob you blind.
4 . I/we was robbed! British English spoken used when you think that you were beaten unfairly in a sport
5 . rob the cradle American English to have a sexual relationship with someone who is a lot younger than you – used humorously SYN cradle-snatch British English
rob somebody/something of something phrasal verb literary
to take away an important quality, ability etc from someone or something:
The illness robbed him of a normal childhood.
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THESAURUS
▪ steal to illegally take something that belongs to someone else:
The thieves stole over £10,000 worth of computer equipment.
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Thousands of cars get stolen every year.
▪ take to steal something – used when it is clear from the situation that you mean that someone takes something dishonestly:
The boys broke into her house and took all her money.
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They didn’t take much – just a few items of jewellery.
▪ burgle British English , burglarize American English [usually passive] to go into someone’s home and steal things, especially when the owners are not there:
Their house was burgled while they were away.
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If you leave windows open, you are asking to be burgled.
▪ rob to steal money or other things from a bank, shop, or person:
The gang were convicted of robbing a bank in Essex.
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An elderly woman was robbed at gunpoint in her own home.
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He’s serving a sentence for robbing a grocery store.
▪ mug to attack someone in the street and steal something from them:
People in this area are frightened of being mugged when they go out.
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Someone tried to mug me outside the station.
▪ nick/pinch British English informal to steal something:
Someone’s nicked my wallet!
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When I came back, my car had been pinched.
▪ embezzle to steal money from the organization you work for, especially money that you are responsible for:
Government officials embezzled more than $2.5 million from the department.
▪ shoplifting stealing things from a shop by taking them when you think no one is looking:
Shoplifting costs stores millions of pounds every year.
▪ phishing the activity of dishonestly persuading people to give you their credit card details over the Internet, so that you can steal money from their bank account:
Phishing is becoming very popular with computer criminals.