burglar, burgle, burglarize

[EdisonBhola]

So, is "burgle" strictly BE, and AE speakers only use "burglarize"?

How about speakers of other major English varieties, like CanE and AusE? Do they use "burgle" or "burglarize"?

 

[entangledbank]

Australian, as usual, follows BrE and they always say 'burgle', as we (always) do.

 

[Roxxxannne]

I think AmE uses both -- burgled might be less common but it's not unheard of.

 

[dojibear]

AE speakers use the verb "burgle", though "burglarize" and "steal from" are more common.

 

[Uncle Jack]

To add to this interesting thread, I wonder if anyone else will chuckle at the OED entry for burglarize:

U.S.​

transitive. To rob burglariously; to break into by violence for the purpose of theft. Also intransitive.​

 

[sound shift]

 

[heypresto]

I wonder if anyone else will chuckle

You can consider it chuckled at here. Or even chucklerized.

 

[Roxxxannne]

What? Not chucklerised??

 

[GreenWhiteBlue]

What? Not chucklerised??

May that be defined as to laugh chuckleriously?

It should be noted that the OED entry is wrong. To burglarize a house is to commit a burglary therein -- but 1) "robbery" and "theft" are not synonyms, since robbing properly-so-called is a subset of theft requiring the use of force or fear, 2) "break in" is too vague, as the place that one would "break into" is a building, and more specifically a dwelling, rather than (say) a locked cabinet, and 3) the definition of "burglary" at common law involved breaking into a dwelling for the purpose of committing a felony therein, but not necessarily a theft.