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embezzle

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em⋅bez⋅zle

  [em-bez-uhl]
Use embezzle in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -zled, -zling.
to appropriate fraudulently to one's own use, as money or property entrusted to one's care.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME embesilen < AF embeseiller to destroy, make away with, equiv. to em- em- 1 + beseiller, OF beseiller to destroy < ?

Related forms:
em⋅bez⋅zle⋅ment, noun
em⋅bez⋅zler, noun

Synonyms:
misappropriate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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em·bez·zle   (ěm-běz'əl)   
tr.v.   em·bez·zled, em·bez·zling, em·bez·zles
To take (money, for example) for one's own use in violation of a trust.

[Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman enbesiler : Old French en-, intensive pref.; see en-1 + Old French besillier, to ravage.]
em·bez'zle·ment n., em·bez'zler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

embezzle 
1469, from Anglo-Fr. embesiler "to steal, cause to disappear" (1305), from O.Fr. besillier "torment, destroy, gouge," of unknown origin. Sense of "to dispose of fraudulently" is first recorded 1585.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

embezzle

To take illegally something of value being held in custody for someone else.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: em·bez·zle
Pronunciation: im-'be-z&l
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: em·bez·zled; em·bez·zling
Etymology: Anglo-French embeseiller to make away with, from en-, prefix stressing completion + beseller to snatch, misappropriate, from Old French, to destroy
: to convert (property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use —compare DEFALCATE —em·bez·zle·ment noun —em·bez·zler noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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