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to rustle

to rustle

5 9.5
To steal animals like cattle from farms
  • verb
  • /ˈrʌsəl/
  • US
translation icon : robar ganado
  • I know this because three years ago, he was rustling cattle from the B.C. Corrigan Cattle Company of Lubbock, Texas.
  • rustle cattle

Examples

  • In years past, these people would have been hanged in the town square for rustling cattle or something.

    Blog text (21)
  • Old enough to rustle cattle.

  • I want to rustle some cattle and then go back to my luxury.

  • Were they rustled for their meat?

    Fiction book (1997)
  • I can rustle cattle.

  • Jody Janice, wanted for cattle rustling in the state of Wyoming, $425 dead or alive.

  • The rancher caught him rustling cattle from his herd late at night.

  • The police set up a sting operation to catch the thieves rustling cattle in the area.

  • After years of evading capture, he was finally arrested for rustling cattle across state lines.

Synonyms

to lift
vsto rustle
  • Informal
35 8.1

To steal something secretly from a shop or person

refers specifically to taking livestock illegally rather than general theft

Antonyms

1.0

Give something back to its owner or the place it came from

Phrasal Verbs

to rustle up
  • Informal
11 5.1

To quickly make or find something, often food, using what you have

How Illegal

to embezzle
28 8.1
to rustle
  • US
5 9.5
to steal
1.0
to shoplift
39 5.0

Surface Forms

rustle infinitive
rustled past
rustled past participle
rustling present participle
rustles third person singular

Etymology

In the American West, rustle grew a new meaning: people would quietly move animals at night, and because the animals and brush made soft noises, 'to rustle' came to mean 'steal livestock'. That's why a cattle thief is called a rustler.