It is coincidental that you should point out the distinctions between burglary and larceny, wow, since I've recently been thinking about the migration of meanings among various classes of crime and how they occur. I would add to your burglary/larceny/theft discussion the term "robbery". And because I know that you all are endlessly fascinated:

Burglary: per the old common law, the breaking and entering another's dwelling at night with the intent to commit a felony; per modern usage, breaking and entering any building with the intent to commit a felony

Larceny: the unlawful taking and carrying away of someone else's personal property with the intent to deprive the possessor of it permanently

Robbery: the illegal taking of property from the person of another, or in the person's presence, by violence or intimidation

Theft: the felonious taking and removing of another's personal property with the intent of depriving the true owner of it; broadly, it includes any instance of stealing, including larceny, burglary, embezzlement and false pretenses.

Now, what I've been contemplating specifically is the use and misuse of "assault."

Assault: the threat of use of force on another which causes that person to have a reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact

Assault means a threat of use of force, but is often used to indicate an application of force. The actual (hi tsuwm!) application of force is "battery."

Battery: the application of force to another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact

Often, of course, the two offenses occur together (first the threat, then the fulfillment of the threat), and so people are used to hearing the offenses paired, but a charge of "assault and battery" reflects two crimes, not one. But I think that the real source of confusion between assault and battery arises from the practice of the media (and police?) to term a rape an "assault." This practice apparently arose from a social aversion to acknowledging the existence of the crime of rape - it just wasn't fit for public discussion, and so rapes came to be reported with the euphemism "assault." Now, people think that an assault encompasses a physical attack rather than the threat of attack. And now, Webster’s first three definitions of "assault" are (1) a sudden violent attack, (2) an unlawful physical attack, and (3) rape.