BURGLAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does burglar mean? 

• BURGLAR (noun)
  The noun BURGLAR has 1 sense:

1. a thief who enters a building with intent to steal

  Familiarity information: BURGLAR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BURGLAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A thief who enters a building with intent to steal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("burglar" is a kind of...):

stealer; thief (a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "burglar"):

cat burglar; housebreaker (a burglar who unlawfully breaks into and enters another person's house)

Derivation:

burglarise (commit a burglary; enter and rob a dwelling)

 Context examples 

What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into the nearest pond?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I suppose he wants to find out some clue as to the burglary last night, if a burglar it was.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not think that any burglar could have done.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, you’re a common burglar.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What can you expect, when you take one's breath away, creeping in like a burglar, and letting cats out of bags like that?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at back and got in.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Well, I have been waiting for you long, and listening: yet not one movement have I heard, nor one sob: five minutes more of that death-like hush, and I should have forced the lock like a burglar.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

These burglars made a considerable haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Do you keep plate in the house, or anything to attract burglars?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid. There has been no result.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)