Burgles

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To enter a location unlawfully in order to take possessions away without permission
2. To break into an establishment with the aim of unlawfully acquiring valuable goods
3. To illegally gain entry into a property with the intent to steal possessions

Etymology: "Burgles" is the third-person singular present form of "burgle," a verb meaning to break into a property illegally in order to steal. The verb was formed by back-formation from "burglar," which first appeared in 1867. In other words, English speakers already had the noun and then worked backward from it, trimming the agent ending to produce a verb. Back-formation is a common way new verbs arise in English. Speakers see a noun ending in "-er" or "-or" and assume the shorter form is the action, so "burgle" was created from "burglar" in the same way that "edit" came from "editor" and "babysit" from "babysitter." The verb is therefore younger than the noun it grew from, which reverses the usual order of most word formation.

Synonyms: steal, rob, thieve