rob

UK/ɹɒb/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ɹɔb/

rob verb: to steal from, especially using force or violence.

Verb

rob (third-person singular simple present robs, present participle robbing, simple past and past participle robbed)

(transitive) To steal from, especially using force or violence.
- He robbed three banks before he was caught.
(transitive) To deprive of, or withhold from, unjustly or injuriously; to defraud.
- The best way to rob a bank is to own one.
- I never robbed the soldiers of their pay.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(figuratively, transitive) To deprive (of).
- Working all day robs me of any energy to go out in the evening.
- Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy...1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy)...
(slang, transitive) To burgle.
- Her house was robbed.2008 September 4, National Public Radio, All Things Considered
(UK, slang, transitive) To steal.
- That bloke robbed my phone!
(intransitive) To commit robbery.
To take possession of the ball, puck etc. from.
- Kevin Mirallas then robbed Bacary Sagna to run into the area and draw another save from Szczesny as the Gunners held on to lead at the break.2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

Noun (1)

rob (uncountable)

A syrup made of evaporating fruit juice over a fire, usually mixed with sugar or honey, and especially used for medicinal purposes.
- [I]nſtead of Honey, Rob of Elder, Conſerve of Roſes, or Syrup of Violets; Glyſters, Pedilavia of emollient Decoctions with Nitre; or Elder, Vinegar, or Focus's of the ſame, applied with Sponges behind the Ears, to the Armpits, Groins, Hams, &c. or with Barley-water and a little Roſe-vinegar.1749, [Thomas Short], “10th, Of Feverish Heat”, in A General Chronological History of the Air, volume II, T[homas] Longman, A[ndrew] Millar, →OCLC, pages 512–513
- Also began to make wort from the malt and give it to such people as had symptoms of the scurvy; one of them indeed is highly scorbutick altho he has been taking of the rob for some time past without finding himself benefited therefrom […] .1772, James Cook, The Journals, Second Voyage, 20 December

Proper noun capitalized: Rob

Rob

A diminutive of the male given names Robert and Robin.
- And in both cases, a man named Rob Monster – an outspoken born-again Christian and the CEO of a tech company called Epik – made pointed restorations, republishing much of the New Zealand content and putting Gab back online. All in the name, he said, of free speech.2021 December 9, Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine and Yahya Abou-Ghazala, “Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here’s why its CEO insists on doing it”, in CNN
(rare compared to the pet form) A surname transferred from the given name, derived from Robert.

Noun (2) capitalized: ROB

ROB

Region of background (in digital images).

rob meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

rob in Tamil

to steal from, using violence: கொள்ளையடி koḷḷaiyaṭi

rob in Urdu

عرق, رب, چوری کرنا, چرانا, حجامت بنانا, لوٹنا

rob in Bengali

হরণ করা, অপহরণ করা, ডাকাতি করা, লুঠন করা, মারা, চুরি করিয়া লত্তয়া

More languagesFewer languages

rob in Telugu: దోచు dōcu
rob in Malayalam: കൊള്ളയടിക്കുക
rob in Kannada: ಬಾಚು, ಗೋಚು, ಗೋಸು, ತೆವರು
rob in Punjabi: ਲੁੱਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
rob in Gujarati: લૂંટ કરવા
rob in Sanskrit: लुण्ट् luṇṭ, लुण्टति luṇṭati, चुर् cur
rob in Arabic: نَهَب nahab, سَلَب salab, سطا
rob in Malay: rompak
rob in Indonesian: rampok
rob in Persian: ربودن robudan
rob in Vietnamese: cướp, đột nhập, trộm

Examples of rob in a sentence

The reason I robbed the bank was that I needed the money.
The archvillain deployed his minions to simultaneously rob every bank in the city.
Those prying neighbours have robbed me of my sense of privacy.

All 40 example sentences with rob

Forms of rob

Verb
third-person singular present	robs
present participle	robbing
past participle	robbed
past	robbed
Noun
alternative form	rhob
alternative form	rohob

Past tense of rob: robbed

Origin of rob

From Middle English robben, from Anglo-Norman robber, from Late Latin raubāre, from Frankish *raubōn (compare Dutch roven) and Old High German roubōn, raubōn (“to rob, steal, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *raubōną. Doublet of reave.

From Medieval Latin rob, from Arabic ربّ (“thickened fruit juice”). Compare French rob, Spanish rob, Italian rob, robbo, Portuguese robe, arrobe, Persian ربودن (present stem: robâ).

Words formed from rob

Phrases with rob

Words that rhyme with rob

20 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rob

What does rob mean?: Rob means to steal from, especially using force or violence.
What is rob in Tamil?: Rob in Tamil is கொள்ளையடி (koḷḷaiyaṭi). See Rob meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is rob?: Rob can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce rob?: Rob is pronounced /ɹɒb/ (UK).
What is the past tense of rob?: The past tense of rob is robbed.

Words near rob in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Typheuss-Rob.wav, en-us-rob.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.