[-ING1.] The action of STEAL v.1 in its various senses. Also Comb. with advs., as stealing-forth, -in.
13[?]. Seuyn Sages (W.), 1275. Thef of steling wil nowt blinne Til he honge bi the chinne.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 238. By rape, pykyng, estorcyon, sacrilege, or ony other maner of stelyng.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 170. By the strength of those Castelles, they were kept from their olde accustomed rauynes and stealings.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, IX. 165. No groome perceiues my stealing forth, nor tooke thereof regarde.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 97. Be steiling and reif, thay raȝer seik thair meit.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 155. For preuenting of stealing, or any helpe by the Latine booke … you may both cause them to write in your presence, and also make choise of such places which they know not where to find.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. 171. But the Stealing in of any Air, before the water was let in, is mentioned but as a Suspicion.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxvii. [xxviii.] § 16. Thus the taking from another what is his, without his Knowledge or Allowance, is properly called Stealing.
1887. Browning, Parleyings, B. de Mandeville, V. 37. If, at first stealing-forth of life in stalk And leaflet-promise, quick His spud should baulk Evil from budding foliage, bearing fruit.
b. concr. in plural. Gains made by stealing.
1839. Marryat, Diary Amer., Ser. I. I. 195. I asked how much his office was worth, and his answer was six hundred dollars, besides stealings.
