filch

[ filch ]
See synonyms for: filchfilchingfilcher on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)
  1. to steal (especially something of small value); pilfer: to filch ashtrays from fancy restaurants.

Origin of filch

1
1250–1300; Middle English filchen to attack (in a body), take as booty, Old English fylcian to marshal (troops), draw (soldiers) up in battle array, derivative of gefylce band of men; akin to folk

Other words for filch

Other words from filch

  • filcher, noun
  • filch·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·filched, adjective

Words Nearby filch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use filch in a sentence

  • There are two great risks in reading sermon books—a tendency to imitate the style and a temptation to filch the jewels.

  • In his eagerness and greed he suspected nothing, but that on some pretext or other they were trying to filch from him his dues.

    In Kings' Byways | Stanley J. Weyman
  • And she is to be allowed to filch it, as other widows filch china cups, and a silver teaspoon or two!

    The Eustace Diamonds | Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for filch

filch

/ (fɪltʃ) /


verb
  1. (tr) to steal or take surreptitiously in small amounts; pilfer

Origin of filch

1
C16 filchen to steal, attack, perhaps from Old English gefylce band of men

Derived forms of filch

  • filcher, noun

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