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Loot vs Pillage - What's the difference?

loot | pillage |

As nouns the difference between loot and pillage

is that loot is a kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks while pillage is the spoils of war.

As verbs the difference between loot and pillage

is that loot is to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence while pillage is to loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.

loot

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) loet, loete .

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en noun)
  • 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 . 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

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

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
  • *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.
  • (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.

    • 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). English terms derived from Hindi English terms derived from Urdu ----

    pillage

    English

    Verb

    (pillag)
  • (ambitransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
  • * 1911 , ,
    • Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The spoils of war.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Which pillage they with merry march bring home.
  • The act of pillaging.

    • Noun

    (m)
  • looting

    • Related terms

    * ----