pilfer

  • 1pilfer — pil·fer / pil fər/ vi: to steal esp. in small amounts and often again and again accused of pilfer ing from passenger luggage vt: to steal or steal from esp. in small quantities found pilfer ing goods from a store he was guarding pil·fer·age / pil …

    Law dictionary

  • 2pilfer — pil‧fer [ˈpɪlfə ǁ ər] verb [transitive] to steal small amounts of things, or things that are not worth much, especially from an office, factory etc: • An employee has been charged with pilfering a set of automobile wheels. pilfering noun… …

    Financial and business terms

  • 3pilfer — (v.) 1540s, from pilfer (n.), c.1400, from O.Fr. pelfre booty, spoils (11c.), of unknown origin, possibly related to PELF (Cf. pelf). Related: Pilfered; pilfering …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4Pilfer — Pil fer, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Pilfered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pilfering}.] [OF. pelfrer. See {Pelf}.] To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practice petty theft. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 5Pilfer — Pil fer, v. t. To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little. [1913 Webster] And not a year but pilfers as he goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep. Cowper. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 6pilfer — *steal, filch, purloin, lift, pinch, snitch, swipe, cop Analogous words: seize, *take, grasp, grab, snatch: *catch, capture: *rob, rifle, loot, plunder …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 7pilfer — meaning ‘to steal (something trivial)’, has inflected forms pilfered, pilfering …

    Modern English usage

  • 8pilfer — [v] steal, embezzle annex, appropriate, borrow, cop*, crib*, filch*, liberate*, lift*, moonlight*, palm*, pinch*, pluck*, purloin, requisition, rip off*, rob, scrounge, snare, snatch, swipe, take, thieve, walk off with*; concepts 139,142,192 Ant …

    New thesaurus

  • 9pilfer — ► VERB ▪ steal (things of little value). DERIVATIVES pilferage noun. ORIGIN Old French pelfrer to pillage …

    English terms dictionary

  • 10pilfer — [pil′fər] vt., vi. [< MFr pelfrer < pelfre, booty] to steal (esp. small sums or petty objects); filch pilferer n …

    English World dictionary