robber
nounUK /ˈɹɒb.ə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈɹɑ.bɚ/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English robbour, robbere, either directly taken from or from a calque of Old French robeor. Equivalent to rob + -er. Compare reaver (“robber, plunderer”), a native English word derived from Proto-Germanic *raubārijaz that is ultimately of more or less the same composition as robber. And compare rover (“a pirate”), another word of the same composition.
1
A person who robs.
2
An animal who robs.
- I remember as a boy in my native land the bad name the common magpie (Pica caudata) had as a destroyer of chickens, and a robber of nests.1907, Frederick William D'Evelyn, “Slaughter of Blue Jays”, in The Condor, volume 9, number 2:
- Derived terms
- camp robber, cradle robber, dog robber, grave robber, robber baron, robber crab, robberess, robberfly, robber fly, robber frog, robber gull, robberish, robberly, robberproof, robber steak, sea-robber
- Hypernyms
- thief
- Hyponyms
- graverobber, bank robber, mugger