Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of pilfering; also things pilfered.

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

  • noun A recurrent theft of small items of little value.

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

  • noun the act of stealing small amounts or small articles

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

pilfer +‎ -age

Support

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

Examples

Comments

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

  • I especially love seeing this word in official regulations and notices.

    September 26, 2007

  • What official notices? I want to see them!

    September 26, 2007

  • Maybe those tags you're not supposed to cut off of your pillows. ;->

    September 26, 2007

  • This is from a policy document I came across a while back:

    "4. Tool Identification

    Items which may be subject to pilferage must be engraved with the unique corporate ID number which identifies ownership."

    I love it, it's a cheeky ray of light in the murk of bureaucracy.

    September 27, 2007

  • Ah, to have official regulations like that! :-)

    September 27, 2007

  • But aren't "items that may be subject to pilferage" kinda hard to engrave? Office supplies, grapes in the grocery store, my supply of soda in the staff fridge that someone keeps drinking...

    September 27, 2007

  • But those aren't tools...well, not really. Although some might argue about the soda. :-)

    September 27, 2007

  • Oh - I missed the tool business. I don't think a mystery number is going to deter a hardened tool-pilferer.

    September 27, 2007

  • I'd still like to see someone engrave a grape.

    September 27, 2007

  • It wouldn't be so hard to engrave a grape. A needle and a steady hand, is all it would take. Do you think people would pay to have their grapes engraved? I could do a while-u-wait, or an online business.

    Some grapes are surprisingly thick-skinned. Grapeskin, is that one word?

    September 27, 2007

  • Like those Your Name On A Grain Of Rice! kiosks in a mall?

    ...do they still do that? My memories of malls consist of stands with useless crap and Orange Juliuses. Talk about hellholes...

    September 27, 2007

  • Yarb, I'd like to order a grape engraved with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, please. A purple grape.

    :-)

    September 27, 2007

  • Sure. It's a dollar a letter, buyer pays shiping.

    September 27, 2007

  • Including refrigeration costs?

    September 27, 2007

  • Just coming back to this to pick up on trivet's "hardened tool-pilferer". Fnarr!

    August 1, 2008