pilfer

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“
For assuredly she will but pilfer, and scratch a little, and be mildly vicious, in her little life, and do no desperate harm, having but poor capacity for evil behind that petty, thin-upped mask.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To steal (a small amount or item). See Synonyms at steal.
  2. intransitive verb To steal or filch.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • We pilfer, unguided by wisdom, like the lowliest insects And yet, what choice did he have For its seemingly inevitable last stand, the clan had retreated to proto-comets whose orbits inclined steeply to the plane of the ecliptic. —  AnalogSFF,June2006
  • Nowadays, a hacker with a high-speed Internet connection, knowledge of computer security and some luck can pilfer information thought to be safely ensconced in a digital locker. —  Kentucky.com: Homepage
  • While working as a part-time secretary, Denise Aughney managed to pilfer $1 million from the Weber School District Foundation by forging checks over seven years, ending in 2006. —  deseretnews.com - Top Stories
  • Internet security experts have discovered a new phishing scam that uses voice recordings to pilfer money from PayPal accounts.
  • I may have to pilfer some issues of Rolling Stone from Ledcat. —  Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents
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This word has been looked up 113 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

filch ·  bestir ·  descry ·  entomb ·  ytt ·  peradventure

Used in the same contextWord Family

pilfer:   pilfering
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English pilfre, spoils, from Old French pelfre.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French pelfrer, rob, plunder, from pelfre, plunder, booty, spoil; cf. pilfeier, rob: see pelf.
 

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/ˈpɪlfər/
by American Heritage

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