▪ I. burgle, n.
(ˈbɜːg(ə)l)
[f. burgle v.]
An act of burgling; a burglary.
| 1889 Punch 26 Jan. 37/2 The Burgle Song. 1898 Tit-Bits 26 Feb. 418/1 This afternoon we did a little burgle on our own account. |
▪ II. burgle, v. orig. colloq. or humorous.
(ˈbɜːg(ə)l)
[A back-formation from burglar n., of very recent appearance, though English law-Latin (1354) had a verb burgulāre of same meaning.]
a. intr. To follow the occupation of a burglar. b. trans. To break feloniously into the house of; to steal or rob burglariously.
| 1872 M. Collins Pr. Clarice I. iv. 63 The burglar who attempted to enter that room would never burgle again. 1874 Standard 14 Nov. 3 New words with which the American vocabulary has lately been enriched; ‘to burgle’, meaning to injure a person by breaking into his or her house. 1884 Blackw. Mag. 513/2, I burgled myself again in the night. |
Hence ˈburgled ppl. a., and ˈburgling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1880 Daily News 28 Oct. 5/3 Treachery seems to have been developed even in burgling circles. 1884 C. Dickens Dict. Lond. 28/3 A gentleman of the burgling persuasion. 1885 Graphic 14 Feb. 151/1 After the ‘burgling’ is completed. 1886 Phelps Burglars in Par. vii. 117 ‘Oh’, said the mistress of the burgled cottage..to the policeman. |
▪ III. burgle
var. burghul.