Robberies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of unlawfully taking property from a person or place through force or intimidation; instances of theft committed with the intention to harm; criminal activities involving the theft of valuables from individuals or establishments by threat or violence
2. Unlawfully seizing possessions from individuals or locations, typically through coercive means; events characterized by theft with aggressive tactics; illegal acts where valuables are taken from victims under duress
3. Engaging in the illegal act of taking property from others by means of threat or violence; episodes of forceful theft perpetrated against individuals; criminal occurrences that involve stealing assets from places or people through intimidation or force

Etymology: The plural "robberies" is simply the plural of "robbery," so the real story is the noun itself. English took "robbery" from Middle English "robberie," which came from Old French "roberie," the Old French word for theft or pillage. Its root is the Old French verb "rober," meaning to steal or to plunder, which itself was borrowed from Late Latin "raubare." That Latin verb came from an unrecorded Frankish word, "*raubōn," meaning to seize or plunder, reconstructed from the Germanic languages that share it. English once had its own word for the crime. Old English "rēaflāc," which combined "rēaf" (spoil or booty) with a suffix meaning an action or practice, was pushed aside by the French import. Today, "robbery" is the everyday term, while the English word "rob" is itself a back-formation from it, built by stripping the "-ery" ending to leave a verb.

Synonyms: thefts, burglaries, heists, stickups

Antonyms: donations, contributions