English

Adjective

burglarious ‎(comparative more burglarious, superlative most burglarious)

1. Being or resembling a burglar
   • 1865, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend:

     At nine o'clock on such a morning, the place of business of Pubsey and Co. was not the liveliest object even in Saint Mary Axe--which is not a very lively spot--with a sobbing gaslight in the counting-house window, and a burglarious stream of fog creeping in to strangle it through the keyhole of the main door.

   • 1872, Horatio Alger, Slow and Sure:

     He felt what a great advantage it was to be forewarned of the impending danger, since being forewarned was forearmed, as with the help of the police he could prepare for his burglarious visitors.

   • 1899, William Archer, America To-day, Observations and Reflections:

     One evening I was sitting at dinner in a fashionable street in New York, close to Central Park, when I was startled by a distinctly burglarious noise at the window.

   • 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

     Of the various burglarious proceedings he had heard of picking the trolls’ pockets seemed the least difficult, so at last he crept behind a tree just behind William.

Derived terms

• burglariously
• burglariousness