plunder
v.v. to steal things from a place using force, especially during a war or a riot. It means taking everything valuable and leaving nothing behind.
v. to rob a place or person of goods or valuables by force, typically in a central context of warfare, rioting, or piracy. Transitive; requires a direct object representing the location or the victim.
The soldiers began to plunder the village after the battle.
Historical accounts describe how the invading army would plunder every library and temple they encountered during their march.
The museum was forced to return several artifacts that had been plundered from royal tombs during the colonial era, sparking a debate about cultural heritage.
Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries. Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”). The Philippine definition originates with the Anti-Plunder Act (Republic Act No. 7080).
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. While it can be used as a noun, the verbal sense is more frequent in historical and literary contexts.
They plundered of the gold.They plundered the gold.Plunder is a transitive verb and does not require the preposition 'of' before the object being stolen.