[f. LOOT sb.2] a. trans. To plunder, sack (a city, building). b. To carry off as loot or booty. c. absol.
a. 1845. W. H. Smith, in Colburn’s United Service Mag., II. 10. He has attacked and looted several villages under our protection.
1861. Gresley, Sophron & N., 135. The summer palace of the Emperor … has been … unceremoniously looted.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, ii. 99. A gang of fellows … seems to have looted the manors of Dunton and Mileham.
b. 1847. Ld. Malmesbury, in Mem. Ex-minister (1884), I. 192. Went to see Marshal Soult’s pictures which he looted in Spain.
1858. Col. K. Young, Diary & Corr. (1902), App. D. 328. My sirdar-bearer, who, the moment the men revolted, with my other servant, looted all my traps.
1860. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xiv. A place of temporary security for the plunder ‘looted’ by laundresses [sc. of Inns of Court chambers].
1887. Daily News, 18 July, 5/4. The dervishes are reported to be looting cattle and grain.
c. 1842. [implied in LOOTING vbl. sb.].
1859. Times, 30 May, 10/4. He who ‘loots’ is almost sure to make acquaintance with the ‘haslinger’ (the hazel stick used by the corporals for castigation is so called).
1878. R. Tayler, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVI. 243. The gentle ‘Tigers’ [soldiers] were looting right merrily, diving in and out of wagons with the activity of rabbits in a warren.
Hence Looted ppl. a.
1897. Daily News, 24 March, 7/6. All the looted cattle and women were recaptured.
