steals

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of steal.

   A clever raccoon steals food from the campsite every night.

   Whoever steals from the register will be caught on camera.

   Note

   The present-tense form carries every use of the verb, with or without an object. With one, something is taken: a raccoon steals food, a writer steals an idea, a performer steals the show. Without one, it describes quiet movement, as when someone steals away or a light steals across the floor. Calling a bargain a steal, as in "she steals a coat at half price," is informal.

2. 2
   nouncolloquialuncountable

   In baseball, the number of bases a baserunner has taken by stealing rather than through a hit or walk.

   The leadoff hitter racked up forty steals over the summer season.

   His steals put him among the top base runners in the league.

   Note

   A box-score word that turns each stolen base into a unit of count, so a runner has 25 steals this year or leads the league in steals. It is the informal, clubhouse name. The fuller term is stolen bases. A base gained on a fielding error does not count, and that is what separates a steal from simply advancing.

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