ppl. a. Forms: see STEAL v. [Pa. pple. of STEAL v.] In senses of the verb.
1. Obtained by theft.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4875. Qua-so es tan wid stoln thing, He wil þat do him to hing.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 154. Þere comeþ a pardoner wiþ stollen bullis & false relekis.
14[?]. Burgh Lawis, lxxxvii. in Anc. Laws Scot. (Burgh Rec. Soc.), 42. Of stollyn gudis fundyn in the fayre.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 201. Ȝif þou … kepyst treccherously in pryuite stolyn thynges or oþere thinges falsly get.
1583. Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 325, in Sat. Poems Reform., xlv. Mercurius … Could not so weill of stowen geir tell, As could [etc.].
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 89. Do’st thou thinke Ile grace thee with that Robbery, thy stolne name Coriolanus in Corioles?
1611. Bible, Prov. ix. 17. Stollen waters are sweet.
c. 1640. H. Bell, Luther’s Colloq. Mens. (1652), 309. The wealth of Popedom (saith Luther) is meerly robbed and stollen wealth.
1771. Junius Lett., lxv. 328. The stolen goods were found upon him.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Supplices, 897, note. [Hermes] the god of theft and abduction, and the recovery of stolen property.
1911. G. M. Trevelyan, Garibaldi & Making of Italy, vii. 147. The men were disconsolately cooking some stolen lambs.
2. Accomplished or enjoyed by stealth, secret. Of a marriage: cf. STEAL v. 5 d.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1659. Such semblaunt to þat segge semly ho made, Wyth stille stollen countenaunce.
c. 1624. Chapman, Hymn to Hermes, 158. To shunn, of his stolne steps, the Tract.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, II. i. And pleasures stol’n being sweetest [etc.].
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, X. 521. ’Tis no stol’n Wedding, this; rejecting awe, She scorns to Marry, but in Form of Law.
a. 1797. Burns, ’Twas na her bonie blue e’e.’ The bewitching, sweet, stown glance o’ kindness.
1803. Jane Porter, Thaddeus, i. I have already erred enough in consenting to this stolen marriage.
1832. S. Warren, Diary Late Physic., II. iv. 211. Few people, indeed, are so disposed to ‘make the most’ of their time at the opera as medical men, to whom it is a sort of stolen pleasure.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., liv. Arabella wrote … to say she had made a stolen match without her husband’s father’s consent.
1884. J. Marshall’s Tennis Cuts, 65. We remembered that no cricket had ever been half so delightful as those stolen single-wicket matches in our night-gowns.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, iii. 18. The girl at whom she had cast stolen glances of curiosity.
b. Stolen march: see STEAL v. 5 e.
1759. Dilworth, Pope, 21. It appears by Mr. Pope’s frequent stolen marches on the public [etc.].
1766. Goldsm., Vicar, xvi. Our spirit took the alarm at this stolen march upon us.
c. Of a hen’s nest: Made in a concealed place.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 615. Eggs are to be sought after, and what a triumph is the discovery of a stolen nest!
3. Of time: Obtained by contrivance.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 367/1. Stolne time, or time gotten by snatches from other busines.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, I. i. These my retirements, and stolne times for thought.
4. In Baseball: see quots.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 79/2. (Baseball) Stolen Base, a base obtained by a runner without help from a hit by a batsman.
1891. N. Crane, Baseball, vii. 61. The record is still hardly complete without showing the number of sacrifice hits … and stolen bases by each player.
5. Of a crop: Interpolated in a rotation of crops.
1861. Times, 10 Oct., 10/1. Stolen crops of winter vetches, late turnips, and rape being also taken.
6. Netting. Of a mesh: Intentionally missed. (See STEAL v. 7.)
1884. [see STOLE ppl. a.].
7. Comb. stolen-wise adv., stealthily.
1813. Scott, Bridal of Trierm., II. xiii. And Lancelot, that evermore Look’d stol’n-wise on the Queen.
