rob

rob

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Tae'.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Tae' terms

• IPA^(key): (General Australian) /ɹɔb/, /ɹɒb/
• (UK) enPR: rŏb, IPA^(key): /ɹɒb/
• Rhymes: -ɒb
• (US) enPR: räb, IPA^(key): /ɹɑb/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

From Middle English robben, from Anglo-Norman robber, from Late Latin raubāre, from Frankish *raubōn (compare Dutch roven) and Old High German roubōn, raubōn (“to rob, steal, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *raubōną. Doublet of reave.

rob (third-person singular simple present robs, present participle robbing, simple past and past participle robbed)

1. (transitive) To steal from, especially using force or violence.

   He robbed three banks before he was caught.

2. (transitive) To deprive of, or withhold from, unjustly or injuriously; to defraud.

   The best way to rob a bank is to own one.

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     I never robbed the soldiers of their pay.

3. (transitive, figuratively, used with "of") To deprive (of).

   Working all day robs me of any energy to go out in the evening.

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.

   • 1956 March, R. C. Blaker, “The Hedjaz Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:

     The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face the long desert journey by rail.

4. (transitive, slang) To burgle.
   • 2008 September 4, National Public Radio, All Things Considered:

     Her house was robbed.

5. (transitive, UK, slang) To steal.

   That bloke robbed my phone!

6. (intransitive) To commit robbery.
7. (sports) To take possession of the ball, puck etc. from.
   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:

     Kevin Mirallas then robbed Bacary Sagna to run into the area and draw another save from Szczesny as the Gunners held on to lead at the break.

• reave, bereave
• rip
• rubble, rubbish

From Medieval Latin rob, from Arabic ربّ (“thickened fruit juice”). Compare French rob, Spanish rob, Italian rob, robbo, Portuguese robe, arrobe, Persian ربودن (present stem: robâ).

• rhob, rohob

rob (uncountable)

1. A syrup made of evaporating fruit juice over a fire, usually mixed with sugar or honey, and especially used for medicinal purposes. [from 15th c.]
   • 1749, [Thomas Short], “10th, Of Feverish Heat”, in A General Chronological History of the Air, volume II, T[homas] Longman, A[ndrew] Millar, →OCLC, pages 512–513:

     [I]nſtead of Honey, Rob of Elder, Conſerve of Roſes, or Syrup of Violets; Glyſters, Pedilavia of emollient Decoctions with Nitre; or Elder, Vinegar, or Focus's of the ſame, applied with Sponges behind the Ears, to the Armpits, Groins, Hams, &c. or with Barley-water and a little Roſe-vinegar.

   • 1772, James Cook, The Journals, Second Voyage, 20 December:

     Also began to make wort from the malt and give it to such people as had symptoms of the scurvy; one of them indeed is highly scorbutick altho he has been taking of the rob for some time past without finding himself benefited therefrom […] .

• BOR, Bor, Bor., ORB, bor, bro, bro., orb

From Proto-Cushitic *roob- ~ *roop-. Cognates include Iraqw tluuw, Somali róob, Oromo rooba and Saho rob.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrob/ [ˈɾɔb]
• Hyphenation: rob

rób m 

1. rain

• Loren F. Bliese (1981) A Generative Grammar of Afar‎^[1], Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas at Arlington (doctoral thesis)., page 5
• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “rob”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[2], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 171

From Dutch rob.

• IPA^(key): [rɔp]

• Audio:

  (file)

rob (plural robbe)

1. seal (pinniped)

• (seal): seehond

From a South Slavic language; compare Serbo-Croatian rob, Macedonian роб (rob), Bulgarian роб (rob), ultimately derived from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“servant, slave”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ɾɔb]
• IPA^(key): [ɹɔˑb] (Gheg)

rob m (plural robër, definite robi, definite plural robërit)

1. (historical) slave
2. (historical) serf
3. prisoner of war
4. (figurative, derogatory) servant

rob m (plural rob, definite robi, definite plural robtë)

1. person, family member

• skllav, shërbëtor

• robëri, robëreshë, robinjë, robëroj, robi

• rop

From a Slavic language, from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“slave”). Compare Daco-Romanian rob.

rob m (plural roghi, feminine equivalent roabã)

1. slave

• sclav

• rubuescu

• IPA^(key): [ˈrop]
• Rhymes: -op
• Homophone: rop

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“servant, slave”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- (“orphan, child slave or servant”).^[1] Compare English robot and Serbo-Croatian rob.

rob m anim

1. (obsolete) slave, serf

   Synonyms: nevolník, otrok, rab

   • 1887, Josef Václav Sládek, “Z osudu rukou”, in Selské písně a české znělky‎^[3], line 7:

     Tak všichni jsme z lidí, vládce i rob.

     So we are all of people, both a ruler and a serf.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rob f

1. genitive plural of roba

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rob

1. second-person singular imperative of robit

• “rob”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “rob”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

• bor
• obr

• IPA^(key): /rɔp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rob
• Rhymes: -ɔp

Uncertain; compare English rabbit. Or, possibly related to Latvian rups (“coarse, rough”), referring to the whiskers. Also compared is the personal name Robbe. Has also compared to English rub, referring to seals' movements, but this is unlikely.

rob m (plural robben, diminutive robbetje n)

1. seal, any member of the family Phocidae

   Synonym: zeehond (more common)

• Afrikaans: rob

Uncertain; compare English rabbit, as well as English rub, referring to the fur. Or, from Proto-West Germanic *reufan (“to tear”), hinted by the animals' digging of tunnels.

rob f (plural robben, diminutive robbeken n)

1. (Belgium) rabbit

   Synonym: konijn

• robbe

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “rob1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute (seal)
• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “rob5”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute (rabbit)

From Javanese ꦫꦺꦴꦧ꧀ (rob, “to rise”), from Old Javanese rob, rwab (“high tide, high water”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *Ruab, from Proto-Austronesian *Ruab. Doublet of luap.

• IPA^(key): [ˈrɔp̚]
• Hyphenation: rob

rob (plural rob-rob)

1. coastal flooding due to high tide

• “rob” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

rob

1. alternative form of robe

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔp/
• Rhymes: -ɔp
• Syllabification: rob

rob f

1. genitive plural of roba

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic робъ (robŭ), from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“slave”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Doublet of orb.

• IPA^(key): /rob/
• Rhymes: -ob

• Audio:

  (file)

rob m (plural robi, feminine equivalent roabă)

1. slave

   Synonym: sclav

• robie
• robi
• dezrobi

• șerb

From West Slavic dialects, from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“slave”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Compare English robot and Russian рабо́та (rabóta).

• IPA^(key): /rôb/

rȍb m anim (Cyrillic spelling ро̏б)

1. slave

• “rob”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

• IPA^(key): [rɔp]

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *õrbъ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan”). Doublet of rab, a borrowed form.

rob m pers

1. (dialectal) slave

   Synonyms: otrok, nevoľník, (literary) rab

• Kálal, Miroslav (1924) Slovenský slovník z literatúry aj nárečí, Banská Bystrica

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

rob

1. second-person singular imperative of robiť

From Proto-Slavic *rǫbъ.

• IPA^(key): /róːp/

rọ̑b m inan

1. border, edge

   Synonym: kónec

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /róːp/

rọ̑b m anim

1. (obsolete) slave

   Synonym: súženj

• “rob”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

See arrope.

rob m (plural robes)

1. fruit syrup

• “rob”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024