5. To accomplish in a concealed or unobserved manner; to try to carry
out secretly; as, to steal a look.
Always, when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it
plainly, . . . and do not think to steal it.
Bacon.
To steal a march, to march in a covert way; to gain an advantage
unobserved; -- formerly followed by of, but now by on or upon, and
sometimes by over; as, to steal a march upon one's political rivals.
She yesterday wanted to steal a march of poor Liddy.
Smollett.
Fifty thousand men can not easily steal a march over the sea.
Walpole.
Syn. -- To filch; pilfer; purloin; thieve.
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Steal (?), v. i. 1. To practice, or be guilty of, theft; to commit
larceny or theft.
Thou shalt not steal.
Ex. xx. 15.
2. To withdraw, or pass privily; to slip in, along, or away,
unperceived; to go or come furtively. Chaucer.
Fixed of mind to avoid further entreaty, and to fly all company,
one night she stole away.
Sir P. Sidney.
From whom you now must steal, and take no leave.
Shak.
A soft and solemn breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich,
distilled perfumes, And stole upon the air.
Milton.
Steal"er (?), n. 1. One who steals; a thief.
2. (Shipbuilding) The endmost plank of a strake which stops short of
the stem or stern.
Steal"ing, n. 1. The act of taking feloniously the personal property of
another without his consent and knowledge; theft; larceny.
2. That which is stolen; stolen property; -- chiefly used in the
plural.
Steal"ing*ly, adv. By stealing, or as by stealing, furtively, or by an
invisible motion. Sir P. Sidney.
Stealth (?), n. [OE. staple. See Steal, v. t.] 1. The act of stealing;
theft. [Obs.]
The owner proveth the stealth to have been committed upon him by
such an outlaw.
Spenser.
2. The thing stolen; stolen property. [Obs.] "Sluttish dens . . .
serving to cover stealths." Sir W. Raleigh.
3. The bringing to pass anything in a secret or concealed manner; a
secret procedure; a clandestine practice or action; -- in either a good
or a bad sense.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Pope.
The monarch, blinded with desire of wealth, With steel invades the
brother's life by stealth.
Dryden.