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
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
It’s a line that Mr. Malkovich might easily filch to excuse his participation in this execrable remarriage comedy, one that’s mystifyingly seeded with acting heavyweights.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 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
Then the Paphlagonian filches from one of us what we have prepared and makes a present of it to our old man.
From The Eleven Comedies, Volume 1 by Aristophanes
Lisa Graves, the former Leahy counsel who’d written the filched strategy memo, watched the hearing from her home in Wisconsin.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 15, 2021
Philharmonic to cellist Peter Stumpf after it had been filched from the front porch of his Los Feliz home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2020
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
Hands shaking, I pull on the combat boots and fatigues Izzi filched from the school’s supply closets.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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
Luhnow offered this lament even as the Astros were filching pitching signs like itchy-fingered bank robbers.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2020
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
If the filching be but cleverly done, the setting of the stolen gems individual, who cares for the real creator!
From Franz Liszt by James Huneker
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
