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Plunder vs Loot - What's the difference?

plunder | loot |

Loot is a related term of plunder.



As verbs the difference between plunder and loot

is that plunder is to pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack while loot is to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.

As nouns the difference between plunder and loot

is that plunder is an instance of plundering while loot is a kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

plunder

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
    • ''The mercenaries plundered the small town.
    The shopkeeper was plundered of his possessions by the burglar.
  • To take (goods) by pillage.
    • The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.
  • To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
    • ''"Now to plunder , mateys!" screamed a buccaneer, to cries of "Arrgh!" and "Aye!" all around.
  • To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
    • ''The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.
  • * 2014 , , " Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian , 18 October 2014:
    • The Serb teed up Steve Davis, who crossed low for Graziano Pellè to plunder his fifth league goal of the campaign.

    Derived terms

    * plunderable * plunderage * plunderer * plunderous

    Noun

    (-)
  • An instance of plundering
  • The loot attained by plundering
    • ''The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.
  • (slang, dated) baggage; luggage

    • 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 ----