verb
boost
To steal something, especially from a store.
The thief boosts a jacket from the store.
Etymology
Boost has the ordinary sense of lifting or pushing upward. Its slang theft sense uses a familiar transfer: carrying something off becomes taking it without permission.
More examples
- He was caught boosting electronics.
- They accused her of boosting the missing merchandise.
- The detective found the goods he had boosted.
Forms
boost · boosts · boosted · boosting
Similar words
- shoplift
- Specifically steal from a store.
- steal
- The general term without the slang tone.