These words refer to the taking of something from someone against his will. Rob is the most general of these, referring to any such situation; it often suggests an isolated act involving a fairly direct use of force, as in house-breaking, or the threat of force, as in an armed confrontation; the couple whose house was robbed while they were on holidays; robbed in a hold-up.

Extort and embezzle are more formal; each has a particular area of relevance. Extort refers specifically to an official who compels someone to give him something not his by right, possibly in exchange for an improper favour: health inspectors who extorted bribes from landlords before declaring their buildings free of health hazards. Money need not always be involved: extorting party-line obedience from the councillors by threatening to reveal their part in the rake-off scandal. The word, thus, has a connotation that suggests any sort of shady, underhanded or unsavouray dealing, not necessarily by an official: mothers who extort allegiance from their children by a sort of emotional blackmail. In another related use, the word can serve as a humorous substitute for rob : he extorted my wallet from me at the point of a gun. Embezzle applies much more strictly to a single situation, that of covertly taking money from an employer by "juggling" the relevant financial records; usually, an accountant, treasurer, cashier or someone else entrusted with other people’s money is involved in this crime.

Milk is slang for getting money or other benefits from someone by means of threats, flattery, persuasion or any sort of unethical means; it strongly suggests the tapping of a portion of some larger amount: stand-over men who milked protection money from every prostitute in Adelaide; using a tube to milk petrol from parked cars. The word can also refer to small amounts acquired with difficulty: milking his friends for free meals and drinks. Thus, at one extreme, the word can be a slangy substitute for extort , where outright illegality is involved, and, at the other, can indicate the mere act of freeloading, which may be annoying or unethical but certainly not illegal.