robber

robber
  (ˈrɒbə(r))
  Forms: α. 2 rubbere, 3 robbare, 3–4 robbere, 5 robare, robbar, 6 Sc. rubber, 4– robber. β. 4 robeour, robbeo(u)r, -youre, 4–5 robour(e, robbour(e, -or(e, 5 robbowre, -eur.
  [The α- and β-forms are respectively a. AF. and OF. robbere, robere, and robeour, robbour, etc., nom. and acc. types of the agent-noun from robber to rob. Cf. Sp. robador, Pg. roubador, It. rubatore.]
  1. a. One who practises or commits robbery; a depredator, plunderer, despoiler.

α c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 29 Rubberes, and þa reueres, and þa þeoues. a 1225 Ancr. R. 150 In one weie þet is al ful of þeoues & of robbares, & of reauares. c 1250 Lutel soth Serm. 27 in O.E. Misc. 186 Alle bac-biteres wendet to helle, Robberes, and reueres. 1340 Ayenb. 39 Þe þridde is ine robberes and kueade herberȝeres þet berobbeþ þe pilgrimes. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 182 Þus..Ihesu Cryst seyde, To robberes and to reueres. c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 688 Robbers, reuers, rauenous ryfelers. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 437/2 Robare, or robbar yn the see,..pirata. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xlviii. 160 They were robbers of the see. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxiv. 10 Who is like vnto the? which delyuerest..the poore and the nedy from his robbers. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 39 Then Theeues and Robbers raunge abroad vnseene. 1634 Milton Comus 485 Som roaving Robber calling to his fellows. 1671 ― Samson 1188 Thou..like a Robber stripdst them of thir robes. 1727 Gay Fables i. i, Robbers invade their neighbour's right. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxviii, Montoni was become a captain of robbers. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iv, Where desperate robbers congregate. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 243 There is more spirit and a better heart in a robber than in a thief.

fig. a 1225 Ancr. R. 334 Þus þeos two unðeawes beoð two grimme robbares.

β 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8006 William vr king..robbeour he was. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6127 Euery man he wened had be a robbour, For drede þat he had tresoure. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4113 Al ys lygnage in euery syde, For robbours þai were y-kud. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxxv. (Caxton, 1483) 83 Vpon theues and morderers, Robbours and reuours,..they shalle be fyers in jugement. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 435/2 Robbowre, on the londe, spoliator. Ibid., Robbowre, on the see, pirata. c 1500 Melusine 245 Locher, whiche afterward delyuered the Countrey of Ardane fro thevys, murdrers, & robbeurs.

  b. Const. of a place, etc.

1465 Paston Lett. II. 251 Slyford was the chyff robber of the cherch. 1526 Tindale Acts xix. 37 Nether robbers off churches, nor yett despisers of youre goddes. 1557 R. Edgeworth Serm. 289 He putteth example of disers, and gameners, and robbers of dead mens graues. 1632 Sherwood, A robber of the Princes, and publicke treasure, peculateur.

  c. transf. (See quots.)

1670 Phil. Trans. V. 1197 Therefore they term it a Robber, as a substance which spoyls, and takes away the richness of the Ore. 1725 Family Dict. s.v. Bee, To preserve Bees from Robbers, which very commonly infest them,..the way is to cloom the Hives very close. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xx. (1818) II. 207 These are called by Schirach corsair bees, and by English writers, robbers. 1831 Insect Misc. (L.E.K.) 329.

  2. attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib. in various senses, as robber-book, robber-gold, robber-haunt, robber-hold, robber-inn, robber-lair, etc. Also objective, as robber-hunting.

1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn ii. 13 The rest [of the oath] was out of pirate books, and *robber books.

1850 Mrs. Browning Calls on the heart ii, The world..Has counted its *robber-gold.

1937 J. W. Day Sporting Adventure 91 The magpies will go off to their *robber-haunts in lonely carrs of willows down on the marshes.

1876 Green Stray Stud. (1892) 319 The countless *robber-holds of the Angevin noblesse.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 123/2, I had no great natural inclination to the trade of *robber-hunting.

1879 Stevenson Ess. Trav., Amateur Emigrant (1905) 82 He had visited a *robber inn.

1866 Conington æneid 266 Grim Cacus in his *robber-lair.

1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 243 Probably..Edom..continued his *robber-life along the Southern borders of Judah.

1856 Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 142 At every turn have we to wrangle..with these vultures about their *robber-toll.

1839 Carlyle Chartism v. 139 Silesian *robber-wars.

  b. Appositive, as robber-chief, robber-company, robber-crew, etc.; robber baron [baron 1], a feudal lord who engaged in plundering; also transf., spec. [baron 2 b] in U.S., a financial or industrial magnate of the late nineteenth century who behaved with ruthless and irresponsible acquisitiveness; also attrib.; robber-council or -synod, the ecclesiastical council held at Ephesus in 449, the decrees of which were subsequently rescinded; robber trench Archæol., a trench representing the foundations of a wall, the stones of which have been partially or entirely removed.

1878 C. F. Adams Railroads 145 The commissioner has not hesitated to give his opinion of the foreign owner as a ‘*robber baron’. 1882 C. Schurz in Boston Herald Suppl. 30 June 1/3 It will not be surprising at all to see some day a movement set on foot to put an end to the operations of the modern robber barons, who, by corporate rascality, supplemented with tricks of the stock exchange, manage to plunder at will not only their fellow-gamblers, but the innocent bona fide investors in corporate enterprises. 1930 J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching ii. 32 Predaceous glaucous gulls, the robber barons of the Arctic bird-world. 1934 M. Josephson (title) The robber barons. 1949 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. Nov. 187 In studying the so-called ‘robber barons’, Destler was impelled to consider also a few early ‘career men’. 1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Nov. 670/3 Next she builds up an immensely lucrative cosmetic business, backed by a robber-baron tycoon named Jim Seymour. 1962 J. Braine Life at Top x. 131 A robber baron of the Middle Ages. 1976 M. J. Lasky Utopia & Revolution (1977) ii. 74 Bakunin joined the call for a crusade of destruction, and he, too, became a robber baron in a holy cause. 1979 Time 2 Apr. 45/1 For years psychiatrists have also been regarded as medicine's robber barons.

1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xlviii, In proud state Each *robber chief upheld his armed halls.

1899 Q. Rev. Jan. 11 *Robber-companies, and bishops in coats of mail.

1865 Pusey Truth Eng. Ch. 90 Before the *robber-Council of Ephesus could be displaced by the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon.

1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 346 Soon shall our powers the *robber-crew destroy.

1797 The College 38 Arm'd Justice forth the *robber-demons drove.

1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 164 Mr. Curzon describes his *robber-guard.

1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians i. v, I have pierced the *robber-horde Like a reed.

1865 Ruskin Sesame i. (1907) 27/2 The Rust-kings..lay up treasures for the rust; and the *Robber-kings, treasures for the robber.

1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. 201 William Peverel reared his castle of Peak Forest, the true vulture's nest of a *robber-knight.

1862 Draper Intell. Develop. Europe ix. (1864) I. 287 Eutyches appealed to the emperor, who summoned..a council to meet at Ephesus. This was the celebrated ‘*Robber Synod’.

1953 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. (ed. 2) ii. 72 On many Roman and later sites where ancient buildings have once stood, the stone will have been partially or completely robbed from the walls and foundations for re-use elsewhere. In such cases the walls can be traced only as ‘*robber-trenches’. 1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 196 The outer edge of the wall and robber trenches has been found along most of the edge of the north aisle and around the west end. 1978 Ibid. LVIII. 106 A late Roman beaded and corrugated pin similar to one found at Lydney was found in robber trenches of the medieval cloister.

1825 Scott Talism. ii, I have heard that the road is infested with *robber-tribes.

1853 Kingston Manco ii, The Spaniards attacked Peru with their small but determined band of *robber-warriors.

  c. Appositive with names of insects, birds, etc., as robber-bee, robber-fowl, robber gull; robber-crab, a large tropical crab which steals coco-nuts; robber-fly, a fly of the family Asilidæ, given to preying upon other insects.

1831 Insect Misc. (L.E.K.) 329 *Robber-bees. [Cf. 1 c.]

1864–5 Wood Homes without H. (1868) 90 There is a very remarkable burrowing crustacean, called the *Robber-Crab (Birgus latro).

1871 Amer. Naturalist IV. 686 A *robber-fly..burrows in the sand. 1899 D. Sharp Insects 491 Asilidae (Robber-flies)... The Asilidae is one of the largest families of flies. 1970 Age (Melbourne) 22 June, Another [family] comprising the predatory robber-flies.

1891 Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 144 As soon as the *robber fowl had begun its steady flight.

1946 J. W. Day Harvest Adventure vi. 86 The big *robber gull dropped like a sack of wheat, without a kick, at seventy yards.

  Hence robbeˈraceously adv., in a manner suggestive of robbers; ˈrobberhood, brigandage, robbery; ˈrobberish [-ish¹], a., suggestive of robbers; ˈrobberism [-ism], control by or the business of robbers; robbery; ˈrobberlet, a petty robber; ˈrobberling [-ling¹], a little or puny robber.

1772 H. Walpole Lett. (1904) 128, I did not know that housebreaking might not be still improving... In less than another minute, the door rattled and shook still more robberaceously. 1855 Swinburne Let. 4 Aug. (1959) I. 6, I longed for you all to be there,..for it [sc. a cave] was admirably robberish. 1863 M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece II. 172 The sight of unburied corpses contributed more than anything else to put an end of the system of robberhood in this part of the country. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxxiv, Latrunculi (robberlets), sicarii, cut-throats. 1884 J. Payne Tales fr. Arabic II. 83, I fear lest, if thou slay him in our dwelling-place and he savour not of robberhood, suspicion will revert upon ourselves. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Love Poems & Others 8 Under the glistening cherries... Three dead birds lie: Pale-breasted throstles and a blackbird, robberlings Stained with red dye. 1921 Glasgow Herald 18 Jan. 6 Communism in Russia is robberism.

Oxford English Dictionary