Meaning

noun goods or money obtained illegally

noun informal terms for money

verb take illegally; of intellectual property

originBorrowed 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”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0