verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   Obsolete spelling of pilfer. alt-of, ambitransitive, obsolete

   "[…] this man deſerues to be endited of pety larceny for pilfring other mens deuiſes from them […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms

abstractabstractabuseandannexappropriate

Example

More examples

"[…] this man deſerues to be endited of pety larceny for pilfring other mens deuiſes from them […]"

Etymology

From Middle English pilfre (“booty”), from Old French pelfre (“plunder, booty, spoils”), of unknown origin. Compare pelf.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.