stole

1. pastsimple past of steal

   TransPennine Express has removed all QR codes from its 71 car parks after scammers covered up a genuine code sticker with a false one and stole £13,000 from a woman's bank account.

   2023 December 13, “Network News: £13,000 stolen via car park QR”, in RAIL, number 998, page 11

2. archaiccolloquialparticiplepastpast participle of steal

   And glory pointed still the goal / THat fired his lay; / But now revolving time has stole / Those dreams away.

   1834, Alexander Smart, Rambling Rhymes, page 151

   2 more examples

   […]when indeed they have ſeen nothing, but have ſtole the word of the Lord from others, and borrowed from their neighbour[…]

   1654, John Webſter, The Judgement Set, and the Bookes Opened, and All Religion brought to Triall […] , page 149

   […]He must have stole my gear after he ran off, licking his wounds." Clint spoke loudly and proudly and drew some applause.

   2014 November 19, Domino Finn, The Blood of Brothers (Sycamore Moon; 2), Blood & Treasure, page 146

plural stoles · alternative stoal · alternative stoale · alternative stolle

1. A garment consisting of a decorated band worn on the back of the neck, each end hanging over the chest, worn in ecclesiastical settings or sometimes as a part of graduation dress, corresponding to the Eastern epitrachelion.

   With sou'-wester under arm, and oilskin open so that God might see the stole and know that there was no deception, he chanted from a prayer-book in a tone exactly like that of a blackfellow devil-dovvening: […]

   1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter X, in Capricornia, page 167

   1 more example

   1994-1998, Encyclopaedia Britannica CD 98, Multimedia Edition Certain robes indicate a position in the hierarchy; others correspond to function and may be worn by the same individual at different times. The most important vestment among the insignia [of the clergy] is the stole, the emblem of sacerdotal status, the origin of which is the ancient pallium. The stole originally was a draped garment, then a folded one with the appearance of a scarf, and, finally, in the 4th century, a scarf. As a symbol of jurisdictionin the Roman Empire, the supreme pontiff (the pope, or bishop of Rome) conferred it upon archbishops and, later, upon bishops, as emblematic of their sharing in the papal authority.

2. A scarf-like garment, often made of fur.

plural stoles

1. biologyA stolon.