Borrowed from Hindi लूट (lūṭ, “booty”), either from Sanskrit लोप्त्र (loptra, “booty, stolen property”) or लुण्ट् (luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.
Meanings
(uncountable) Synonym of booty, goods seized from an enemy by violence, particularly (historical) during the sacking of a town in war or (video games) after successful combat.
The horses in the archbishop's stables the murderers appropriated as their own fee,—or, as we should now say, as loot. 1862, Walter F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, volume II, page 505:
But yet, with the persistent avariciousness of the white man, the Arabs clung to their loot, and when morning came forced the demoralized Manyuema to take up their burdens of death and stagger on into the jungle. 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 146:
Loot, plunder, pillage. 1788, Indian Vocabulary, page 77:
Why, the race [of camp followers] is suckled on loot, fed on theft, swaddled in plunder, and weaned on robbery. 1860, William Howard Russell, My Diary in India in the Year 1858–9, volume II, page 340:
The loot from the sack of Constantinople included the head of John the Baptist.
India went from being a world-famous exporter of finished cloth into an importer, went from having 27% of world trade to less than 2%. Meanwhile, colonialists like Sir Robert Clive bought their rotten boroughs in England on the proceeds of their loot in India while taking the Hindi word "loot" into their dictionaries as well as their habits. 2015, Shashi Tharoor, "Britain Does Owe Reparations", 00:02:22
He always found the talismanic gathering-word Loot (plunder), a sufficient bond of union in any part of India. 1839, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, number 45, page 104:
(uncountable) Synonym of sack, the plundering of a city, particularly during war.
He consented to the loot of the city by the men under his command.
(US, colloquial, uncountable) Any valuable thing received for free, especially Christmas presents.
Free Loot for Children 1956 April 23, Life Magazine, p. 131
(slang, uncountable) Synonym of money.
How about all of those guys, dolls, dancers, fancy orchestration, and special lyrics? Didn't all of that cost a lot of loot? A good question. Would you believe me if I told you that we bought all of that talent for less than $10,000? 1963, Advertising & Sales Promotion, volume 11, Crain Communications:
There was nothing to do except for Mom to go back slaving away as somebody's maid. In Baltimore she couldn't make half the loot she could up North. 1956, Billie Holiday et al., Lady Sings the Blues, page 26:
I got my mink the hard way. I paid for it. It cost a lot of loot and it took a little while to do it, but it's all mine. 1951 November, Thelma Carpenter, quotee, “10 ways to get a mink coat”, in Jet, Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, page 46:
Movies and TV were […] continuing to pretend for many years that the contents of a single briefcase could purchase a small country. Lately, though, filmmakers have made some sincere efforts to be realistic about the sheer bulk of pilfered loot) 2019 July 3, Mike D'Angelo, “Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck Blunder through a Heavy Heist in J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019:
Borrowed from Hindi लूट (lūṭ, “booty”), either from Sanskrit लोप्त्र (loptra, “booty, stolen property”) or लुण्ट् (luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.
Meanings
(transitive) Synonym of plunder, to seize by violence, particularly during the capture of a city during war or (video games) after successful combat.
Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder 1833, The Asiatic Journal & Monthly Register for British India & Its Dependencies, page 66:
On the 22nd ultimo the Boers made a raid into the District, and the result was that some 300 head of cattle and 600 sheep were looted. 1901 October 11, “District Reports”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 16, page 483:
We looted the temple and the orphanage, which turned most of the NPCs against us.
The plunderers are beaten whenever they are caught, but there is a good deal of burning and ‘looting’ as they call it. 1842 May 17, Lord Ellenborough, letter
(transitive) Synonym of plunder, to seize by violence, particularly during the capture of a city during war or (video games) after successful combat. ▸ To rifle through a dead body and the deceased's belongings, taking anything worth stealing.
It's shameful to loot the bodies of the people who died today.
(qualifier:chiefly South Asian, transitive) Synonym of rob, to steal something from someone by violence or threat of violence.
He told me... that if I gave him less than to the master of the luggage-boat, he would... declare at Shēr-Gurry that I had ‘looted him!’ 1851 June 20, Mrs. Hervey, journal
Borrowed from Middle Dutch loet or loete (“scoop, shovel, scraper”), from reconstructed Old Dutch *lōta, from Old Frankish *lōtija (“scoop”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōþþijō (“scoop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to lay down, deposit, overlay”).
Related to lade and ladle, and cognate with Dutch loet, Scots lute or luyt (“scoop”), West Frisian loete or lete, Middle Low German lōte (“rake”), and French louche (“ladle”).
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal) A scoop used to remove scum from brine pans in saltworks.