Stown

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic past participle of steal, describing something taken secretly or unlawfully from its rightful owner
2. Old-fashioned form of the past participle of steal, referring to goods that were taken without permission
3. A dated past participle of the verb steal, used of property that has been carried off by theft

Etymology: "Stown" is a past participle of "steal," an older, now mostly dialect form of "stolen." Its ancestor is the Old English verb "stelan," which formed its participle by a vowel change, the same pattern that gives "stolen" its shape. "Stown" is recorded mainly in northern English and Scots speech, where it lasted after standard English had settled on "stolen." The same Old English stem also gave English "stealth," a noun built from "steal" with the suffix "-th," as in "warmth" and "length." Stealth began as the act of taking something secretly and later came to mean quiet, covert movement in general.