robbing

Pluralrobbings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of rob.

   They spent years robbing travelers along the lonely mountain road.

   Robbing the bank in broad daylight took remarkable nerve.

   Note

   The -ing form doubles the final b of rob, as short verbs ending in a single consonant do. Its object is normally the victim or the place, as in robbing travelers or robbing a bank. What is taken comes in with of: robbing them of their savings, or figuratively, robbing a child of sleep. British slang reverses this and makes the stolen thing itself the object.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of stealing from a person or place, especially by using force or the threat of it.

   Constant robbing along the trade route forced merchants to hire armed guards.

   The robbing of the wealthy estates outside the city shocked the whole village.

   Similarrobbery, theft, stealing, plundering, looting

   Note

   A noun that overlaps almost entirely with robbery, but it can be counted. David-Hillel Ruben's The Metaphysics of the Social World (1985) contrasts "some bank robbings by Sutton" with "no robbings at all." The plural suits writing that treats each act as a separate event. As a mass noun it usually takes of, as in the robbing of the estates.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2