PLAY PODCASTS
burgle

burgle

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day · Merriam-Webster

August 26, 20171m 41s

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (rss.art19.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 26, 2017 is:


burgle \BER-gul\ verb

1 : to break into and steal from 

2 : to commit burglary against


Examples:

The broken window alerted the security guard that the office may have been burgled.

"Residents … had long been complaining about a surge in crime. One area resident tells Newsweek her house had been burgled a few years ago while she and her husband were inside." — Jeff Stein, Newsweek, 16 Sept. 2016


Did you know?

Burglary, which means "forcible entry into a building especially at night with the intent to commit a crime (such as theft)," and burglar ("one who commits burglary") have been with us since the 16th century. Burgle and its synonym burglarize didn't break into the language until the 19th century. Burgle is a back-formation (that is, a word formed by removing a suffix or prefix) from burglar. Burglarize comes from burglar as well, with the addition of the familiar -ize ending. Both verbs were once disparaged by grammarians—burgle was considered to be "facetious" and burglarize was labeled "colloquial"—but they are both now generally accepted. Burglarize is more common in American English, whereas burgle is preferred in British English.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Topics

DICTIONARYMERRIAMMERRIAM-WEBSTERLANGUAGEENGLISHWEBSTERWORD OF THE DAYVOCABULARYWORDWORDSWORD A DAY