Steal vs Stead - What's the difference?
steal | stead |
(lb) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
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*:"I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal'. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't ' steal ."
To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
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(lb) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
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*(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
*:Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject.
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly,and do not think to steal it.
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To acquire at a low price.
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(lb) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
(lb) To move silently or secretly.
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*1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Ch.1:
*:"Did he take his bottle well?" Mrs. Flanders whispered, and Rebecca nodded and went to the cot and turned down the quilt, and Mrs. Flanders bent over and looked anxiously at the baby, asleep, but frowning. The window shook, and Rebecca stole like a cat and wedged it.
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 23, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
, title= To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
*:They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:He will steal himself into a man's favour.
To advance safely to (another base) during the delivery of a pitch, without the aid of a hit, walk, passed ball, wild pitch, or defensive indifference.
To dispossess
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=February 12, author=Les Roopanarine, work=BBC
, title= The act of stealing.
A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price.
(basketball, ice hockey) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
(baseball) A stolen base.
(curling) Scoring in an end without the hammer.
(computing) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs
(label) A place, or spot, in general.
*1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faery Queene , II:
*:For he ne wonneth in one certaine stead , / But restlesse walketh all the world around.
(label) A place where a person normally rests; a seat.
*1633 , P. Fletcher, Purple Island :
*:There now the hart, fearlesse of greyhound, feeds, / And loving pelican in safety breeds; / There shrieking satyres fill the people's emptie steads .
(label) A specific place or point on a body or other surface.
*, Bk.VII:
*:Thus they fought two houres& in many stedys they were wounded.
(label) An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc.
(label) An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm.
*1889 , H. Rider Haggard, Allan's Wife :
*:But of course I could not do this by myself, so I took a Hottentot—a very clever man when he was not drunk—who lived on the stead , into my confidence.
(label) The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead.
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:The genial bed / Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead .
*1818 , Jane Austen, Persuasion :
*:She was so wretched and so vehement, complained so much of injustice in being expected to go away instead of Anne; Anne, who was nothing to Louisa, while she was her sister, and had the best right to stay in Henrietta's stead !
*2011 , "Kin selection", The Economist , 31 March:
*:Had Daniel Ortega not got himself illegally on to this year’s ballot to seek a third term, his wife might have run in his stead .
Figuratively, an emotional or circumstantial "place" having specified advantages, qualities etc. (now only in phrases).
*2010 , Dan van der Vat, The Guardian , 19 September:
*:Though small and delicate-looking, she gave an impression of intense earnestness and latent toughness, qualities that stood her in good stead when she dared to challenge the most intrusive communist society in eastern Europe.
To help; to support; to benefit; to assist.
* 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
To fill place of.
As verbs the difference between steal and stead
is that steal is (lb) to take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else while stead is to help; to support; to benefit; to assist.As nouns the difference between steal and stead
is that steal is the act of stealing while stead is (label) a place, or spot, in general.steal
English
Verb
Man Utd 1-6 Man City, passage=United's hopes of mounting a serious response suffered a blow within two minutes of the restart when Evans, who had endured a miserable afternoon, lost concentration and allowed Balotelli to steal in behind him. The defender's only reaction was to haul the Italian down, resulting in an inevitable red card.}}
Birmingham 1-0 Stoke, passage=However, until Gardner stole the ball from Dean Whitehead in the centre circle with the half-hour approaching, setting off on a run which culminated with a testing long-range shot - with debutant Obafemi Martins lurking, Begovic gathered at the second time of asking - Stoke looked the more credible contenders to break the deadlock.}}
Synonyms
* (to illegally take possession of) flog, (Cockney rhyming slang) half-inch, (slang) knock off, (slang) jack, lift, nick, pinch, pocket, rob, thieve, confiscate, convert * (to secretly move) sneak * See alsoAntonyms
* (acquire licitly ) receive, purchase, buy, earn * (provide freely ) donate, bestow, grantTroponyms
* shopliftSee also
* burglarize * burgle * confiscate * pickpocket * pilfer * steal awayNoun
(en noun)- At this price, this car is a steal .
Synonyms
* (merchandise available at a very attractive price) bargainReferences
stead
English
Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* bedstead * homestead * in good stead * in one's stead * instead * sunstead * worksteadVerb
(en verb)- Some food we had and some fresh water that / A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, / Out of his charity,—who being then appointed / Master of this design,—did give us, with / Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries, / Which since have steaded much: [...]