English

Alternative forms

• shop-lift

Noun

shoplift ‎(plural shoplifts)

1. (obsolete) A shoplifter.
   • 1704, John Dunton, The Athenian Oracle, Athenian Society, Volume III, page 67,

     […] and indeed it seems a Hardſhip in our Laws, that a poor Shoplift ſhou′d be hang′d for breaking in and pilfering a few Goods, […] .

Verb

shoplift ‎(third-person singular simple present shoplifts, present participle shoplifting, simple past and past participle shoplifted)

1. (transitive) To steal something from a shop / store during trading hours.
   • 2004 May 17, Andrew Sean Greer, The New Yorker,

     She taught Maddy to sing in Portuguese, to shoplift mascara, to play a drinking game called Spoons

2. (intransitive) To steal from shops / stores during trading hours.
   • 1938 April, William Peery, Thank Rotary!, The Rotarian, page 52,

     Once, before we had juvenile court here, I made the mistake of putting on probation a boy who had shoplifted, a boy of good family. That boy later shot a man.

   • 1969 October, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Mechanisms for Exploiting the Black Community, Negro Digest, 22,

     Thus, the teacher shook down the kids, the big kids shook down the little kids, the little kids shoplifted to get money, etc., etc.

   • 2002 November 25, The New Yorker,

     In other words, New York is a better place to shoplift.

Synonyms

• shop steal (Australia)

Derived terms

• shoplifter
• shoplifting

Translations

See also

• steal