Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To steal (a small amount or item). synonym: steal.
  • intransitive verb To steal or filch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To steal in small quantities; practise petty theft.
  • To steal or gain by petty theft; filch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little.
  • intransitive verb To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practice petty theft.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practise petty theft.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make off with belongings of others

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English pilfre, booty, spoils, from Old French pelfre; probably akin to felpe, frepe, old clothes; see frippery.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English pilfre ("booty"), from Old French pelfre ("plunder, booty, spoils"), of unknown origin. Possibly related to pelf.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pilfer.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Reflip in reverse.

    July 22, 2007