steal

Meanings

To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else.
To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement.
To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully.
To acquire at a low price.
To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show.
To move silently or secretly.
To convey (something) clandestinely.
To withdraw or convey (oneself) clandestinely.
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
To borrow for a short moment.

The act of stealing.
A piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price.
A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team.
A stolen base.
Scoring in an end without the hammer.
A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs.

From Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.
Compare West Frisian stelle, Low German stehlen, Dutch stelen, German stehlen, Danish stjæle, Swedish stjäla, Norwegian stjele); see below for more.
Proposed etymologies beyond Germanic are numerous and include
Proto-Indo-European *ster-: compare Welsh herw ("theft, raid"), Ancient Greek στερέω ("to deprive of")
Proto-Indo-European *stel(H)- ("to stretch"): compare Albanian pë/mbështjell, Old Church Slavonic стєлѭ ("I spread out (bed, roof)"), Ancient Greek τηλία ("playing table")
Proto-Indo-European *tsel- ("to sneak"): compare Sanskrit त्सरति ("creep, sneak up on") and other forms under Pokorny 5. *sel- "schleichen, kriechen"

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