Library / English Dictionary

ROB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: robbed    , robbing   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rip off; ask an unreasonable price

Synonyms:

fleece; gazump; hook; overcharge; pluck; plume; rob; soak; surcharge

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rob" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

"Rob" entails doing...:

bill; charge (demand payment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rob"):

extort; gouge; rack; squeeze; wring (obtain by coercion or intimidation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take something away by force or without the consent of the owner

Example:

The burglars robbed him of all his money

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rob" is one way to...):

rip; rip off; steal (take without the owner's consent)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rob"):

hold up; stick up (rob at gunpoint or by means of some other threat)

pick (pilfer or rob)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sentence example:

They rob him of all his money

Derivation:

robber (a thief who steals from someone by threatening violence)

robbery (larceny by threat of violence)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Light pollution does more than rob humans of the opportunity to ponder the night sky.

(Milky Way now hidden from a third of humanity, NOAA)

“Here’s a guinea for him! He shall never say I robbed him of his uncle.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because I get it back from the worthless wretch who stole it, from the woman who robbed the dead and the living.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This, I thought, was the moment of decision, which was to rob me of or bestow happiness on me for ever.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

They are afraid of this Ghost Dog, for it has cunning greater than they, stealing from their camps in fierce winters, robbing their traps, slaying their dogs, and defying their bravest hunters.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As climate warms, however, that sea ice will gradually disappear, robbing the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their chicks.

(Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will march toward extinction, National Science Foundation)

Then he told him everything; how his brothers had cheated and robbed him, and yet that he had borne all those wrongs for the love of his father.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mrs. Weston's poultry-house was robbed one night of all her turkeys—evidently by the ingenuity of man.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

It was opened to add more mummies during the 21st Dynasty, about 3,000 years ago, to protect them during a period when tomb-robbing was common.

(Egypt Announces Discovery of 3,500-Year-Old Luxor Tomb, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“But surely,” said she, “I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)