Dictionary entry

Purloin

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Pur‐loin″ (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Purloined (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Purloining.] [OF. purloignier, porloignier, to retard, delay; pur, por, pour, for (L. pro) + loin far, far off (L. longe). See Prolong, and cf. Eloign.] To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch.

Had from his wakeful custody purloined

The guarded gold. Milton.

when did the muse from Fletcher scenes purloin? Dryden.