different between contraband vs loot

English

Etymology

From Spanish contrabanda (modern spelling contrabando), from Italian contrabando (modern spelling contrabbando), from contra (“against”) + bando (“ban”), and reinforced by French contrebande.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t???bænd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t???bænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Noun

contraband (usually uncountable, plural contrabands)

1. (uncountable) any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess
2. (uncountable) goods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods
3. (countable, US, historical) A black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 497:

     While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty.

Translations

Adjective

contraband (comparative more contraband, superlative most contraband)

1. prohibited from being traded
   • 1940 – The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: Having ... – Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives – Page 2191

     "[...] when the seizure is made in connection with a violation involving a contraband article covered by section 1 (b) (1) of the said Act; [...]"

   • 1953 – United States, United States. President, United States. Congress – United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – Page 2039

     "The exclusion of mandatory payment of moieties for seizures of contraband controlled substances is accomplished through Section 17 of the bill, [...]"

   • 1899 – Albert William Chaster – The Powers, Duties and Liabilities of Executive Officers as Between These ... – Stevens and Haynes – Page 55

     "4. Contraband goods may be seized if found in a river before they are landed or offered for sale."

Verb

contraband (third-person singular simple present contrabands, present participle contrabanding, simple past and past participle contrabanded)

1. (obsolete) To import illegally; to smuggle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

2. (obsolete) To declare prohibited; to forbid.
   • Hudibras

     The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands.

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lu?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t
• Homophone: lute (in accents with yod-dropping)

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch loet, loete ("scoop, shovel, scraper"; > Modern Dutch loet), from Old Dutch *l?ta, from Old Frankish *l?tija (“scoop, ladle”), from Proto-Germanic *hl?þþij? (“ladle”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh?- (“to lay down, deposit, overlay”). Cognate with Scots lute, luyt (“scoop, ladle”), West Frisian loete, lete, Middle Low German l?te (“rake”), French louche ("ladle"; < Germanic). Related to lade, ladle.

Alternative forms

• lute

Noun

loot (plural loots)

1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

Etymology 2

Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani ??? (l??)/???? (l??, “spoil, booty”), from Sanskrit ?????? (lu??, “to rob, plunder”).The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".

In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare.

A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.

Noun

loot (uncountable)

1. The act of plundering.

   the loot of an ancient city

2. plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
3. (colloquial, US) Any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
   • 1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
4. (video games) Items dropped by defeated enemies.

Synonyms

• (plunder): See Thesaurus:booty

See also

• contraband
• manubial
• plunder

Translations

Verb

loot (third-person singular simple present loots, present participle looting, simple past and past participle looted)

1. (transitive) To steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.

   to loot valuables from a temple

   • 1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
2. (intransitive) To steal from.

   to loot a temple for valuables

3. (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.

Translations

References

• Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885).

Anagrams

• LOTO, OOTL, loto, tool

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lo?t/
• Hyphenation: loot
• Rhymes: -o?t

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lote.

Noun

loot m (plural loten, diminutive lootje n)

1. A sprout, shoot, stem etc. growing on an existing plant part

   Synonym: scheut

2. A descendant, offspring.
3. Something originating, growing, developing from another.

Derived terms

• loten (to sprout)
• waterloot

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

loot

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of loten
2. imperative of loten

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *l?t, from Proto-West Germanic *laud.

Noun

lôot n

1. lead (metal)

   Synonym: bli

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Further reading

• “loot”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “loot (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I