purloin

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 17, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>purloin</strong> &#149; \per-LOYN\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appropriate#h2">appropriate</a> wrongfully and often by a breach of trust</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least keeps them so. An alderman coming from a turtle feast will not step out of his carnage to steal a leg of mutton; but put him to starve, and see if he will not <em>purloin</em> a loaf." — <a href="https://archive.org/stream/vanityfair02thacuoft/vanityfair02thacuoft_djvu.txt">William Makepeace Thackeray, <em>Vanity Fair</em>, 1848</a></p> <p>"White Fox, played with brisk, exemplary swagger by Hsu Feng, is a master thief employed by a corrupt landowner who wants to <em>purloin</em> a priceless <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sutra">sutra</a> from a Buddhist monastery." — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/movies/raining-in-the-mountain-review.html">Glenn Kenny, <em>The New York Times</em>, 29 Oct. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The word <em>purloin</em> features in the title of a famous Edgar Allan Poe story in its past tense form: "The Purloined Letter" was included in Poe's 1845 <em>Tales</em>, and involves the search for a letter that a cabinet minister has stolen and is now using to blackmail the rightful owner, an unnamed woman of royalty. When Poe opted for ­<em>purloin</em> for his story, he was employing a term in use since the 15th century with the meaning "to put away; to inappropriately take or make use of." The word had earlier use, now obsolete, with the meaning "to set aside; to render inoperative or ineffectual," a meaning that links more clearly to the word's Anglo-French or