rob

[rob] /rɒb/
verb (used with object), robbed, robbing.
1.
to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
2.
to deprive (someone) of some right or something legally due:
They robbed her of her inheritance.
3.
to plunder or rifle (a house, shop, etc.).
4.
to deprive of something unjustly or injuriously:
The team was robbed of a home run hitter when the umpire called it a foul ball. The shock robbed him of his speech.
5.
Mining. to remove ore or coal from (a pillar).
verb (used without object), robbed, robbing.
6.
to commit or practice robbery.
Idioms
7.
rob Peter to pay Paul, to take something from one person or thing to pay one's debt or hypothetical debt to another, as to sacrifice one's health by overworking.
Origin
1175-1225; Middle English robben < Old French robber < Germanic; compare Old High German roubōn. See reave1
Related forms
unrobbed, adjective
Can be confused
burglarize, mug, rip off, rob, steal (see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
1. Rob, rifle, sack refer to seizing possessions that belong to others. Rob is the general word for taking possessions by unlawful force or violence: to rob a bank, a house, a train. A term with a more restricted meaning is rifle, to make a thorough search for what is valuable or worthwhile, usually within a small space: to rifle a safe. On the other hand, sack is a term for robbery on a huge scale during war; it suggests destruction accompanying pillage, and often includes the indiscriminate massacre of civilians: to sack a town or district. 2. defraud, cheat.
British Dictionary definitions for rob peter to pay paul

rob

/rɒb/
verb robs, robbing, robbed
1.
(transitive) to take something from (someone) illegally, as by force or threat of violence
2.
to plunder (a house, shop, etc)
3.
(transitive) to deprive unjustly: to be robbed of an opportunity
Derived Forms
robber, noun
Word Origin
C13: from Old French rober, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German roubōn to rob
Word Origin and History for rob peter to pay paul

rob

v.

late 12c., from Old French rober "rob, steal, pillage, ransack, rape," from West Germanic *rauba "booty" (cf. Old High German roubon "to rob," roub "spoil, plunder;" Old English reafian, source of the reave in bereave), from Proto-Germanic *raubon "to rob," from PIE *reup-, *reub- "to snatch" (see rip (v.)).

Lord, hou schulde God approve þat þou robbe Petur, and gif þis robbere to Poule in þe name of Crist? [Wyclif, c.1380]
To rob the cradle is attested from 1864 in reference to drafting young men in the American Civil War; by 1949 in reference to seductions or romantic relationships with younger persons. Related: Robbed; robbing.

rob peter to pay paul in Culture

rob Peter to pay Paul definition


To harm one person in order to do good to another; by extension, to use money or resources set aside for one purpose for a different one.

Idioms and Phrases with rob peter to pay paul

rob Peter to pay Paul

Take from one to give to another, shift resources. For example, They took out a second mortgage on their house so they could buy a condo in Florida—they're robbing Peter to pay Paul. Although legend has it that this expression alludes to appropriating the estates of St. Peter's Church, in Westminster, London, to pay for the repairs of St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1800s, the saying first appeared in a work by John Wycliffe about 1382.