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View synonyms for pilfer

pilfer

[ pil-fer ]

verb (used with or without object)

  1. to steal, especially in small quantities.

    Synonyms: appropriate, filch, purloin, thieve



pilfer

/ ˈpɪlfə /

verb

  1. to steal (minor items), esp in small quantities
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈpilfering, noun
  • ˈpilferer, noun
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Other Words From

  • pilfer·er noun
  • un·pilfered adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pilfer1

1540–50; v. use of late Middle English pilfre booty < Middle French pelfre. See pelf
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pilfer1

C14 pylfre (n) from Old French pelfre booty; see pelf
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Example Sentences

After hacking your way through a parade of low-level enemies, and past a mini-boss, you meet the large bird that pilfered the Demonic Forest Spirit’s soul.

En route, they have pilfered from grain stores, scoffed mountains of corn and pineapples, and caused over $1 million of damage as they amble slowly through farmland and villages.

From Time

I’ve made delicious shrubs with everything from early spring rhubarb to loquats pilfered from my parents’ backyard.

From Eater

As a teenager, Kaestel stole to eat, then to get another tank of gas, and eventually to pay for everything he’d otherwise need to pilfer piecemeal.

It makes sense that mole-rats would not only defend it, but try to pilfer this resource from others.

But Julius and his comrades continued to pilfer American secrets for years after the defeat of fascism.

To pay a debt by means of a worthless cheque was evidently less reprehensible than to pilfer a brooch from a dressing-table.

To pilfer a supper, and then have it found in its natural state, after eating it—I confess that that is a most remarkable trick!

Like the others of this family, they pilfer their food from the Gulls, and are also very destructive to young birds and eggs.

The movements of the red-haired girl were not those of one who sought to pilfer.

When they had pilfer'd some from her, she was more cautious how she paraded with 'em for the future.

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pilewortpilferage