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Webster 1913 Edition

Loot

Loot

(loōt)
,
Noun.
[Hind.
lūṭ
, Skr.
lōtra
,
lōptra
, booty,
lup
to break, spoil; prob. akin to E.
rob
.]
1.
The act of plundering.
2.
Plunder; booty; especially, the booty taken in a conquered or sacked city.

Loot

,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Looted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Looting
.]
To plunder; to carry off as plunder or a prize lawfully obtained by war.
Looting
parties . . . ransacking the houses.
L. Oliphant.

Definition 2024

loot

loot

See also: loot-

English

Alternative forms

Noun

loot ‎(plural loots)

  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

Etymology 2

Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट ‎(lūṭ)/لوٹ ‎(lūṭ, “spoil, booty”), from Sanskrit लुण्ट ‎(luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".

In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare.

A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.

Noun

loot ‎(uncountable)

  1. The act of plundering.
    the loot of an ancient city
  2. plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
  3. (colloquial, US) any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
    • 1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
  4. (video games) Items dropped from defeated enemies in video games and online games.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations

Verb

loot ‎(third-person singular simple present loots, present participle looting, simple past and past participle looted)

  1. To steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
    to loot valuables from a temple
    • 1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
  2. To steal from.
    to loot a temple for valuables
  3. (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.
Translations

Anagrams

References

  • Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885).

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

loot

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of loten
  2. imperative of loten

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *lōt, from Proto-Germanic *laudą.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /loːt/

Noun

lôot n ‎(stem lod-)

  1. lead (metal)

Synonyms

Descendants

Etymology

From Middle Dutch loet, loete ("scoop, shovel, scraper"; > Modern Dutch loet), from Old Dutch *lōta, from Old Frankish *lōtija ‎(“scoop, ladle”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōþþijō ‎(“ladle”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- ‎(“to lay down, deposit, overlay”). Cognate with Scots lute, luyt ‎(“scoop, ladle”), West Frisian loete, lete, Middle Low German lōte ‎(“rake”), French louche ("ladle"; < Germanic). Related to lade, ladle.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -uːt
  • Homophones: lute

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