Word for stealing an item then returning it without the owner's knowledge?

Question

Does there exist a specific word to describe the action of stealing an item, keeping it for a few days then returning it from where it was taken?

An example: A friend of mine "lost" his personal diary for few days while in the college hostel. Someone (unknown to the owner) was definitely interested in reading about his life story. He found the diary on the table after a week. So someone stole it temporarily and gave it back.

Is there is a specific term or phrase to describe this action performed by the person who stole and later returned the item?

Edit: Thought I clearly posted the question. But this has turned out to be something totally different. The question is just about the action of the person who used the item and replaced it without the owner's consent. I don't think my example really captured what I wanted to ask.

Assume that a person is in need of an item and so he searches for it. The person finds the item somewhere then steals it and leaves the place and remains a silent observer. He uses the stolen item for his personal gain and also looks out what's happening in the place where he stole the item. The owner of the item and friends start searching for it and they don't get it. Now this person feels like he might get caught or he might have finished using the item as long as he wants and he stealthily places the item in its original place when the owner is not around. This has nothing to do with the owner's memory. I am just asking about the action of the person who stole it initially and then replaced it.

If borrow is the word for it, then the owner should be able to say, "A person borrowed my precious item without my consent." But I don't know if it captures the stealing intent of that person. I hope I made it clear.

Answer 1

Consider, Indian taking

Indian taker

Informal. Offensive A person who steals your property but returns the stolen property to you at a later date.

The car thief stole my car but was nice enough to return it the next day. What an Indian taker piece of shit.

Urban Dictionary

Indian giver

One who takes or demands back one's gift to another, as in Jimmy wanted to take back Dan's birthday present, but Mom said that would make him an Indian giver. This term, now considered offensive, originally alluded to the Native American practice of expecting a gift in return for one that is given. [; early 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary

Answer 2

Here's an expanded version of my earlier comment, as suggested. The dictionary definitions are straightforward and some have been provided by others. I'll just link to them as necessary rather than print them in full here.

There are two actions here: taking the item, and then bringing it back. Based on the title, what happens to the item in between those two actions is provided as background knowledge but outside the scope of this question.

The first action is theft, and the question's clarifying edit makes it explicit that it is stealing.

Since the item is returned, it can also be said to have an element of borrowing, except that borrowing casts it in a more innocent light than warranted.

The owner might charitably consider the whole activity to be unauthorised borrowing. To someone who knows the facts as presented in the clarifying edit, it is the theft and return of the goods.

Answer 3

Stealing and then returning it is of course stealing. If the thief has a bad conscience and returns the goods, or is afraid that he or she may be found out and returns the goods, it is still stealing. I assume that you meant "Taking something away without permission or knowledge of the owner and later returning it".

This will have some legal consequences, which will be depending on where exactly you live. It might be legally theft, it might not. Some places have special laws for joyriders who take a car, drive around, and will always claim they intended to return it, so this is illegal and punished the same as theft, even if it isn't.

But we are talking about language, not about laws. You can call it whatever you like even if it doesn't match the laws of your country. You can say "To me, it's stealing, I don't care what the law says", if that's what you think. In written language, you can call it "borrowing" in quotes, including the quotes, because it is similar to borrowing but you are not convinced that it is the same.

The "diary" case I would call a severe violation of the privacy of the diary owner. Compare it to another diary owner who has bought a new diary for 2017 already and that empty diary gets stolen and not returned; that diary owner will probably be a lot happier than the one whose full diary with personal notes was taken away and returned.

To avoid confusion, you can say "Someone took X away without my permission and returned it three days later". Then everyone knows what you mean. As long as you don't know the situation, it's hard to say more. I have two neighbours, one is quite Ok, but I hate the other one. If A asked for my lawn mower, they would get it. B wouldn't. Now my lawnmower disappears for a day and returns. It makes a difference to me whether A or B took it.

Answer 4

I would be tempted to use the verb misappropriate. This gives the idea that the thing was wrongfully or deviously taken, but does not necessarily imply that the thing was stolen. We can also say that the item was misappropriated if it was given back later. Misappropriate really means to come into possession of through wrongful means, but it does not stipulate that the thing is kept forever, or that it was necessarily stolen.

We should note, however, that the verb misappropriate does not imply that the thing be returned to its owner. Nonetheless, it seems to be an appropriate verb given the circumstances.

Here is the definition of misappropriate from Oxford Dictionaries Online:

misappropriate

Pronunciation: /mɪsəˈprəʊprɪeɪt/

VERB

[WITH OBJECT]

Dishonestly or unfairly take (something, especially money, belonging to another) for one’s own use:

• the report revealed that department officials had misappropriated funds

More example sentences

• After the high increase in council tax and an exceptional increase in essential services costs in rural areas, to give £1m or even £0.5m of our taxes to this project is misappropriating our money.

• It was essentially a sort of collaboration across both things and I completely reject the view that I was misappropriating money.

• He talked about the Government misappropriating money, which is theft.

Answer 5

It is called stealing.

To take (the property of another) without right or permission; to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force. (AHDEL/Random House, TFD)

Some define stealing by intent (the intent being not to return the item.) If the intent is to return it, the word borrow applies:

to take and use (something that belongs to someone else) for a period of time before returning it (MW); to obtain or receive (something, such as money) on loan for temporary use, intending to give it, or something equivalent or identical, back to the lender (AHDEL, TFD)

Borrowing usually implies asking, but not always, especially if the owner is unavailable at the moment.

In your case, I think "borrow" with quotes, as offered by @FumbleFingers" (or, to surreptitiously borrow) would be the best answer.

Answer 6

The legal term is called "conversion." That is, someone "converted" your item to his use.

Conversion differs from stealing insofar as the "lost" item is eventually returned to the owner after it was used by the converter. Whereas "stealing" is done with the intent, or at least the effect, of permanently depriving someone of something.

For instance, if someone "pinches" your car, takes a "joyride" with it, and then returns it to your driveway, that would be "conversion."

Answer 7

He sneaked the diary.

I think stole is too strong, because he returned the diary; I think "borrow" is too weak, because he did not provide full restitution -- he retained knowledge he was not meant to have.

(1) sneak according to Vocabulary.com is:

make off with belongings of others

Synonyms: abstract, cabbage, filch, hook, lift, nobble, pilfer, pinch, purloin, snarf, swipe. Type of: steal take without the owner's consent

The same reference also says:

The word sneak has many shades of meaning, but all involve doing something in a secretive or stealthy way.

The villain of the OP's example behaved in a sneaky fashion, both in taking the diary and in returning it.

A full sentence describing the example would be:

A sneak took my diary and sneaked it back a week later.

(If you go to my source, you will find sneak as a noun and sneak as doing something furtively, in addition to the definition I posted above.)

Answer 8

I would say 'borrowing' over 'stealing', primarily because the question title has an added element of "then returning it".

Here's a movie clip showing a clear contrast between 'stealing' and 'borrowing': Captain America clip

The clip starts with this conversation:

Natasha Romanoff: Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?

Captain America: Nazi Germany. And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash.

Answer 9

Run away with something:

to steal something, or to borrow something without asking

Answer 10

The most accurate single-word term for a situation where a finder discovers an abandoned item but permanently maintains possession of it, is called theft-by-finding

Wikipedia provides a succinct definition

Theft by finding occurs when someone who chances upon an object which seems abandoned takes possession of the object but fails to take steps to establish whether the object is abandoned and not merely lost or unattended.* In some jurisdictions the crime is called "larceny by finding" or "stealing by finding"

Having said that, if the finder returns the object at a much later date, the owner might comment that somebody had "forgotten" to return the diary.

Can I Be Accused of Stealing Something I Borrowed If I Forget to Return It?

Anyone can make the honest mistake of forgetting to return a borrowed item, no matter how aggravating it might be for the rightful owner. And while the person from whom you borrowed the item may wonder whether he or she may ever receive it back, your actions do not amount to theft if you just merely forgot to return the item. From a legal perspective, in order to be accused of stealing, or theft, you would need to have had the intent to never return the item to its rightful owner.

In the situation described by the OP, and not summed up in the question title, as long as the property is returned to its rightful owner, the person who "found" the item cannot be accused of stealing.

In @medica's answer, she is correct in saying

Borrowing usually implies asking, but not always, especially if the owner is unavailable at the moment.

However, a lender knows or can guess who the borrower is even if that person hasn't asked permission. For instance, a son/daughter may "borrow" one of his parents' car keys without permission. If neither the car keys nor the child are at home, the parents usually understand what has happened.

In the OP's scenario, no one knows who "found" the diary, and they don't know if the finder read the contents of the diary. Where is the proof? The person who "lost" their diary never found out who replaced it back a week later. Someone who finds a coin in the street and pockets it, hasn't borrowed money, they have kept it for themselves. If someone finds a twenty euro/dollar/pound note lying somewhere, and they do not attempt to find its rightful owner, the finder has effectively taken in possession something that was not legally theirs to take.

A criminal charge of theft (or larceny) generally requires the specific intent to permanently deprive another individual of his or her property. If you legitimately forgot to return a borrowed item to its rightful owner, then you lacked specific intent to steal the item. As with other specific intent crimes, much stronger and more credible evidence is required in order for the prosecution to establish guilt. -

Source: http://criminal.findlaw.com/

Answer 11

Requisition?

req·ui·si·tion ˌrekwəˈziSH(ə)n/ noun

1. an official order laying claim to the use of property or materials. "I had to make various requisitions for staff and accommodations" synonyms: order, request, call, application, claim, demand "we have submitted our requisition for additional staff" verb

1. demand the use or supply of, especially by official order and for military or public use. "the government had assumed powers to requisition cereal products at fixed prices" synonyms: commandeer, appropriate, take over, take possession of, occupy, seize, confiscate, expropriate "their house was requisitioned by the army"

or maybe Appropriate?

ap·pro·pri·ate adjective əˈprōprēət/

1. suitable or proper in the circumstances. "a measure appropriate to a wartime economy" synonyms: suitable, proper, fitting, apt, right; More verb əˈprōprēˌāt/

1. take (something) for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission. "his images have been appropriated by advertisers" synonyms: seize, commandeer, expropriate, annex, arrogate, sequestrate, sequester, take over, hijack More

2. devote (money or assets) to a special purpose. "there can be problems in appropriating funds for legal expenses" synonyms: allocate, assign, allot, earmark, set aside, devote, apportion "we are appropriating funds for these expenses"