What is "steal"

Stale \Stale\ (st[=a]l), n. [OE. stale, stele, AS. st[ae]l, stel; akin to LG. & D. steel, G. stiel; cf. L. stilus stake, stalk, stem, Gr. steleo`n a handle, and E. stall, stalk, n.] The stock or handle of anything; as, the stale of a rake.

But seeing the arrow's stale without, and that the head did go No further than it might be seen.
--Chapman.

Old English stelan "to commit a theft, to take and carry off clandestinely and without right or leave" (class IV strong verb; past tense stæl, past participle stolen), from Proto-Germanic *stelan (cognates: Old Saxon stelan, Old Norse, Old Frisian stela "to steal, to rob one of," Dutch stelen, Old High German stelan, German stehlen, Gothic stilan "to steal"), from PIE *stel-, possibly a variant of *ster- (3) "to rob, steal."\n

\n"The notion of secrecy ... seems to be part of the original meaning of the vb." [OED]. Intransitive meaning "to depart or withdraw stealthily and secretly" is from late Old English. Most IE words for steal have roots in notions of "hide," "carry off," or "collect, heap up." Attested as a verb of stealthy motion from c.1300 (as in to steal away, late 14c.); of kisses from late 14c.; of glances, sighs, etc., from 1580s. The various sports senses begin 1836. To steal (someone) blind first recorded 1974.

1825, "act or case of theft," from steal (v.). Meaning "a bargain" is attested by 1942, American English colloquial. Baseball sense of "a stolen base" is from 1867.

n. 1 The act of stealing. 2 A piece of merchandise available at a very attractive price. 3 (context basketball ice hockey English) A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team. 4 (context baseball English) A stolen base. 5 (context curling English) Scoring in an end without the hammer. 6 (context computing English) A policy in database systems that a database follows which allows a transaction to be written on nonvolatile storage before its commit occurs vb. 1 (lb en transitive) To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else. 2 (lb en transitive of ideas, words, music, a look, credit, etc.) To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement. 3 (lb en transitive) To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully. 4 (lb en transitive colloquial) To acquire at a low price. 5 (lb en transitive) To draw attention unexpectedly in (an entertainment), especially by being the outstanding performer. Usually used in the phrase steal the show. 6 (lb en intransitive) To move silently or secretly.

1. v. take without the owner's consent; "Someone stole my wallet on the train"; "This author stole entire paragraphs from my dissertation"

2. move stealthily; "The ship slipped away in the darkness" [syn: slip]

3. steal a base

4. to go stealthily or furtively; "..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house" [syn: sneak, mouse, creep, pussyfoot]

5. [also: stolen, stole]

1. n. an advantageous purchase; "she got a bargain at the auction"; "the stock was a real buy at that price" [syn: bargain, buy]

2. a stolen base; an instance in which a base runner advances safely during the delivery of a pitch (without the help of a hit or walk or passed ball or wild pitch)

3. [also: stolen, stole]

In poker, a steal is a type of a bluff, a raise during the first betting round made with an inferior hand and meant to make other players fold superior hands because of shown strength. A steal is normally either an "ante steal" or "blind steal" (depending on whether the game being played uses antes or blinds).

Steals are done with hands less valuable than what might normally be considered a raising hand, normally a below average one, with the hope that the few players remaining will not have a hand worth calling the raise, thereby winning the antes or blinds without further action. This play is used either in late position after several people have folded, or when the game is short-handed. Steals happen more often in tournament situations due to the escalating ante/blind structure making the starting pot quite valuable.

While steals don't win much money per hand, they can accumulate to considerable profit if the players to the left of the stealer are tight enough not to contest enough steals. Of course, skilled players will recognize repeated steal plays and frequently reraise for defense.

Steals being made in late position when everyone folds to the stealer, or when the game is short-handed, are the most common steals, but a raise under other conditions can also act as a steal. An aggressive player, especially one with a large stack of chips, might reraise, also known as re-steal, someone he knows might be trying to steal. The objective here is twofold: the re-raiser hopes to pick up both the blinds and antes and the original raiser's chips when the raiser folds, and he also hopes to keep that player from constantly raising before she or he can act because that cuts down on the reraiser's own stealing opportunities.

If one or more players have called a raise pre-flop, a player can re-raise as a bluff in what is called a squeeze play. The original raiser will need to have a premium holding to continue in the hand as several other players have shown signs of strength, and he may well be playing out of position. The players that have just called the original raise are unlikely to have very strong hands as they have not re-raised.

Steal (originally titled Riders) is a 2002 action film starring Stephen Dorff, Natasha Henstridge, Bruce Payne and Steven Berkoff. It was directed by Gérard Pirès and written by Mark Ezra and Gérard Pirès.

Steal may refer to

• Theft, the illegal act of taking another person's property without that person's freely-given consent
• The gaining of a stolen base in baseball
  • the 2004 ALCS stolen base in Game Four, see Dave Roberts (outfielder)
• Steal (basketball), a situation when a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball from an offensive player
• Steal (film), a 2002 action film
• Steal (game show), a Central Television game show
• Steal (poker), a type of a bluff
• The Steal, the British melodic hardcore punk band
• The Steal (album), an album by The Steal
• Discount

In basketball, a steal occurs when a defensive player legally causes a turnover by his positive, aggressive action(s). This can be done by deflecting and controlling, or by catching the opponent's pass or dribble of an offensive player. The defender must not touch the offensive player's hands or otherwise a foul is called.

Steals are credited to the defensive player who first causes the turnover, even if he does not end up with possession of the live ball. To earn a steal, the defensive player must be the initiator of the action causing the turnover, not just the benefactor. Whenever a steal is recorded by a defensive player, an offensive player must be credited as committing a turnover.

Stealing the ball requires good anticipation, speed and fast reflexes, all common traits of good defenders. However, like blocked shots, steals are not always a perfect gauge of a player's defensive abilities. An unsuccessful steal can result in the defender being out of position and unable to recover in time, allowing the offense to score. Therefore, attempting to steal is a gamble. Steals, though risky, can pay off greatly, because they often trigger a fastbreak for the defensive team.

There is no prototypical position from which a player may get many steals. While smaller, quicker guards tend to accumulate the most steals, there are many exceptions. For example, forward Rick Barry led the NBA in steals in 1974-75, and for many years center Hakeem Olajuwon led his team in the category, consistently ranking among the league's leaders, and is the only center ranked in the top 10 all-time in steals. Karl Malone, a power forward, is currently number ten.

Steal is a Saturday evening game show that was produced by Central Television and aired on ITV in 1990 and lasted for 20 episodes and was hosted by Mark Walker, who was the son of Roy Walker first & longest ever host of Catchphrase, with Stephen Rhodes as announcer. It featured an animated and computerised 'catburglar' called Jools who also featured in mini computer game challenges throughout the game. Other features of the game were the squares on the grid that had prizes such as cash, swag and the burglars mask which allowed the contestants to steal any prize from the other contestants.