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Webster 1913 Edition


Stealth

Stealth

(stĕlth)
,
Noun.
[OE.
stalþe
. See
Steal
,
Verb.
T.
]
1.
The act of stealing; theft.
[Obs.]
The owner proveth the
stealth
to have been committed upon him by such an outlaw.
Spenser.
2.
The thing stolen; stolen property.
[Obs.]
“Sluttish dens . . . serving to cover stealths.”
Sir W. Raleigh.
3.
The bringing to pass anything in a secret or concealed manner; a secret procedure; a clandestine practice or action; – in either a good or a bad sense.
Do good by
stealth
, and blush to find it fame.
Pope.
The monarch, blinded with desire of wealth,
With steel invades the brother’s life by
stealth
.
Dryden.
I told him of your
stealth
unto this wood.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Stealth

STEALTH

,
Noun.
stelth.
1.
The act of stealing; theft.
The owner proveth the stealth to have been committed on him by such an outlaw.
2.
The thing stolen; as cabins that are dens to cover stealth. [Not in use.]
3.
Secret act; clandestine practice; means unperceived employed to gain an object; way or manner not perceived; used in a good or bad sense.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
The monarch blinded with desire of wealth, with steel invades the brothers life by stealth.

Definition 2024


stealth

stealth

English

Noun

stealth (countable and uncountable, plural stealths)

  1. (uncountable) The attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others.
  2. (archaic, countable) An act of secrecy, especially one involving thievery.
    • 1877, George Hill, An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century, M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, page 352:
      [The King] thinks it fit[...] that restitution according to this order be made to the petitioners for stealths committed upon them last winter (273).

Related terms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

stealth (third-person singular simple present stealths, present participle stealthing, simple past and past participle stealthed)

  1. (military, computing) To conceal or infiltrate through the use of stealth.