robber

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English robbour, robbere, either directly taken from or from a calque of Old French robeor. Equivalent to rob +‎ -er.

Compare reaver ("robber, plunderer"), a native English word derived from Proto-Germanic *raubārijaz that is ultimately of more or less the same composition as robber. And compare rover ("a pirate"), another word of the same composition.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɹɒb.ə(ɹ)/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɹɑ.bɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒbə(ɹ)

Noun

robber (plural robbers)

  1. (crime) A person who robs.
  2. An animal who robs.
    • 1907, Frederick William D'Evelyn, “Slaughter of Blue Jays”, in The Condor, volume 9, number 2:
      I remember as a boy in my native land the bad name the common magpie (Pica caudata) had as a destroyer of chickens, and a robber of nests.

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Middle English

Noun

robber

  1. alternative form of robbour

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French rober.

Verb

robber

  1. (transitive) to pillage; to plunder
  2. (transitive) to steal; to pinch

Conjugation

  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

robber

  1. present of robbe