filch
Americanverb (used with object)
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filches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
filched,
past participle, past
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filching
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
filchsimple
-
filchessimple
-
have filchedperfect
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has filchedperfect
-
am filchingprogressive
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are filchingprogressive
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is filchingprogressive
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have been filchingperfect progressive
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has been filchingperfect progressive
Past
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filchedsimple
-
had filchedperfect
-
was filchingprogressive
-
were filchingprogressive
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had been filchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of filch
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
Explanation
You can filch money, time, and stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it. Filching is stealing, as in "You filched my cookies!" Doesn't filch just sound kind of dirty? That could be because it's one letter away from filth, but it's also true that stealing is usually considered a dirty, lowdown deed. No one wants their things to be filched. Filching is similar to pilfering, swiping, lifting, and purloining — other words for taking what isn't yours. We've all probably filched at some point, but thieves make a profession out of filching.
Vocabulary lists containing filch
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Othello
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He would filch it if I wasn’t around.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2020
One piece they failed to filch, however, was the Dresden Green, an elaborate diamond hat pin crafted around an extremely rare, almond-shaped celadon-green diamond.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2020
Forays like these increasingly vex trade hawks in America, who fear that China will filch its cutting-edge technology.
From Economist ● Jul. 5, 2018
The window of opportunity is rapidly closing on them: Every new story idea the duo comes up with is already claimed by Shakespeare, a shameless plagiarist always eager to filch an idea from Nigel's notebook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2017
He’d head up to Connecticut and filch Fred in the middle of the night.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
"But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed."
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2018
In his ruling, he quoted “Othello”: “He that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed.”
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016
I sidle over to spoon my husband’s cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup with lemon verbena and shellfish; he filches confit.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2015
By contrast, Fairey simply filches artworks and hopes that no one notices — the joke is on you.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2012
"Who steals my purse, steals trash, But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed."
From The Bible Story by Newton Marshall Hall
To permit the filched territory and motor to keep continuous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2021
To balance the state’s budget, the Legislature has filched all it can from cities and towns over the years.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 19, 2019
When not kitted out in her Captain Marvel suit—much less revealing than Gadot’s Wonder Woman getup—she spends much of the film in a baggy Nine Inch Nails T-shirt filched from a store mannequin.
From Slate ● Mar. 5, 2019
They have filched trade secrets related to semiconductors and jet engines and aircraft carriers.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 11, 2018
Like a human woman, Rachael had every class of object conceivable filched and hidden away in her purse; he found himself rooting interminably.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Sandwich spirals — also known as pinwheels — remind us of our parents filching some leftovers from "grown up" game day or office parties for us to enjoy when we got home.
From Fox News ● Dec. 13, 2021
A confrontation also would be embarrassing – like having to tell a coworker that you suspected them of doing something unsavory, like filching your pens.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2020
As unemployment rates nationwide have sunk to record lows, filching workers — from kitchens and construction sites, warehouses and Walmarts, truck cabs and nursing homes — has become routine.
From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2019
The Tribune reported that Taylor was filching every form of public assistance imaginable: Social Security, food stamps, Medicaid, and Aid to Families With Dependent Children.
From Slate ● Dec. 31, 2017
But already I had overstepped my resolution, although not feeling desperately contrite about it after the sleight-of-hand way that a declaration of love had been changed into the accusation of filching a corn cake.
From Wings of the Wind by Credo Fitch Harris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
