filch
Americanverb (used with object)
-
filches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
filched,
past participle, past
-
filching
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
filchsimple
-
filchessimple
-
have filchedperfect
-
has filchedperfect
-
am filchingprogressive
-
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
-
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
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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
Though China has often used computer hacking to filch secrets, this case relied on traditional espionage techniques, including the attempted recruitment of corporate insiders.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 10, 2018
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 cause of the new public relations crisis is the disclosure last week of two new ways to filch data from the microprocessors inside nearly all of the world’s computers.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2018
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
"He that filches from me my good name . . . makes me poor indeed."
From Brann the Iconoclast — Volume 12 by William Cowper Brann
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
Since somebody had filched the school map, we’d hoped to be free of that subject.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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
Not only feeding fantasies about improbably slinky eastern operatives filching secrets, it also propagates the idea of icy Russian disdain for the individual.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 16, 2018
It carries duties with it, duties which are imperative and which to shirk is filching benefits without rendering an equivalent.
From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV by Ida Husted Harper
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