shoplifting

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of stealing goods that are on display in a store

   shrinkage is the retail trade's euphemism for shoplifting

2. 2
   noun

   The action of stealing goods from a shop, store or other place of business.

   […]William Grove for robbing his Master of twenty-sive Guineas ; and Catharine Knox for Shoplifting.

3. 3
   noun

   A theft from a shop during trading hours.

   In high school, he bleached his hair and began a series of shopliftings and bicycle thefts.

4. 4
   verb

   present participle and gerund of shoplift

Etymology

By surface analysis, shoplift + -ing. The noun sense (from 1690) predates the verb.