heist

[hahyst] /haɪst/
noun
1.
a robbery or holdup:
Four men were involved in the armored car heist.
verb (used with object)
2.
to take unlawfully, especially in a robbery or holdup; steal:
to heist a million dollars' worth of jewels.
3.
to rob or hold up.
Origin
1925-30, Americanism; alteration of hoist
Related forms
heister, noun
Examples from the web for heist
  • In the same way, economic inequality is not in question when an armed robber kills a bank guard in an attempted heist.
  • But doubts remain over whether the case is connected to the information heist.
  • He is currently working on a book about the world's largest unsolved art heist.
  • But his first organized heist leaves him so miserable that he drops out of the gang.
  • In the first, the swindler who runs the game arranges a heist of the participants.
  • The breakfast before the heist in reservoir dogs is another example.
British Dictionary definitions for heist

heist

/haɪst/
noun
1.
a robbery
verb
2.
(transitive) to steal or burgle
Derived Forms
heister, noun
Word Origin
variant of hoist
Word Origin and History for heist
v.

1927 (in heister "shoplifter, thief"), American English slang, probably a dialectal alteration of hoist "lift," in sense of "shoplift," also in older British slang "to lift another on one's shoulders to help him break in." As a noun, from 1936.

Slang definitions & phrases for heist

heist

noun

A robbery or holdup: Led Zeppelin was the victim of the heist (1930+ Underworld)

verb
  1. To steal; stick up; rob (1931+ Underworld)
  2. To highjack (1920+ Underworld)
Related Terms

short heist

[fr an early and dialectal pronunciation of hoist; in an 1883 source hoist is defined as ''to rob houses by climbing in a window,'' because one thief climbs or hoists himself up over another]