shoplift
Noun

shoplift (plural shoplifts)

  1. (obsolete) A shoplifter.
    • 1704, John Dunton, The Athenian Oracle, Athenian Society, Volume III, page 67 ↗,
      […] and indeed it seems a Hardſhip in our Laws, that a poor Shoplift ſhou′d be hang′d for breaking in and pilfering a few Goods, […] .
Verb

shoplift (shoplifts, present participle shoplifting; past and past participle shoplifted)

  1. (transitive) To steal something from a shop / store during trading hours.
    • 2004 May 17, Andrew Sean Greer, The New Yorker,
      She taught Maddy to sing in Portuguese, to shoplift mascara, to play a drinking game called Spoons
  2. (intransitive) To steal from shops / stores during trading hours.
    • 1938 April, William Peery, Thank Rotary!, The Rotarian, page 52 ↗,
      Once, before we had juvenile court here, I made the mistake of putting on probation a boy who had shoplifted, a boy of good family. That boy later shot a man.
    • 1969 October, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Mechanisms for Exploiting the Black Community, Negro Digest, 22 ↗,
      Thus, the teacher shook down the kids, the big kids shook down the little kids, the little kids shoplifted to get money, etc., etc.
    • 2002 November 25, The New Yorker,
      In other words, New York is a better place to shoplift.
Synonyms Related terms Translations Translations
  • French: voler à l’étalage



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