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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage

Steal vs. rob

NY Post:
March 12, 2005 ATLANTA - A man being escorted into court for his rape trial yesterday stole a deputy's gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter's vehicle to escape, setting off a massive manhunt and creating widespread chaos across Atlanta, police said.
...
Nichols got the semiautomatic pistol by overpowering the female deputy while he was being led down a corridor in the Fulton County Courthouse, Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.
Joseph
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.

  • [nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun.
  • As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth.
  • "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.
  • Joseph[/nq] I've never heard this distinction before.
  • I have heard a legal distinction being make between burglary and theft, but thieves, burglars, and robbers all steal.
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41 Answers
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[nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force. Joseph[/nq]
I've never heard this distinction before. I have heard a legal distinction being make between burglary and theft, but thieves, burglars, and robbers all steal.
Robbery does usually imply violence or the threat of viol
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[nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun.[/nq]
What should we do if you're right?
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[nq:1]As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
Your understanding may be quite right in some
local communities but wrong in others. Root
meanings as in the dictionary do not associate
stealth or violence specifically with either.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
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[nq:2]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the ... is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force. Joseph[/nq]
[nq:1]I've never heard this distinction before. I have heard a legal distinction being make between burglary and theft, but thieves, burglars, and robbers all steal.[/nq]
Correct. "A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before o
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[nq:1]NY Post: March 12, 2005 ATLANTA - A man being escorted into court for his rape trial yesterday stole ... but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
You'd have to check the US Code for the legal definitions. But the NY Post is not bound by legalese. MW online has plenty of definitions for "steal"
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[nq:1]NY Post: March 12, 2005 ATLANTA - A man being escorted into court for his rape trial yesterday stole ... but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
It could have been phrased, "robbed a deputy of her gun", I think it was a "her." Robbery involves stealing, so the article while not necessarily wr
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[nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
Is it possible to 'rob a gun' in American English?

Mickwick
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[nq:1]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
The first definition in the RHUD under "steal" is: "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force".

Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply)
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[nq:2]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
[nq:1]Is it possible to 'rob a gun' in American English?[/nq]
If you take its bullets w/o permission...
Its possible tp be robbed of a gun. Robbery happens to the victim, stealing to the items taken.
Mike G.
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[nq:2]Correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't steal the gun. As I understand it, "stealing" is misappropriation by stealth. "Robbery" is misappropriation by force.[/nq]
[nq:1]Is it possible to 'rob a gun' in American English?[/nq]
You rob a person, or you rob a place, but you don't generally rob "the thing."
robbed a bank 37,100
robbed some money 15

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