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pelf

[pelf]
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noun
  1. money or wealth, especially when regarded with contempt or acquired by reprehensible means.
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Origin of pelf

1300–50; Middle English < Old French pelfre booty
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pelf

Historical Examples

  • The plaudits of the world sought not, but scorned its praise and pelf.

    Gleams of Sunshine

    Joseph Horatio Chant

  • All the laurel and the glory of these seeds I sell for pelf.

  • He declared that these so-called developers came for pelf, not patriotism.

    Robert Toombs

    Pleasant A. Stovall

  • The pelf and the jewels will they revive his father who had fallen by his hand?

    The Weird Orient

    Henry Iliowizi

  • This brought him pelf, but, alas for his greed, the pelf came slowly.

British Dictionary definitions for pelf

pelf

noun
  1. derogatory money or wealth, esp if dishonestly acquired; lucre
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French pelfre booty; related to Latin pilāre to despoil
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

Word Origin and History for pelf

n.

mid-14c., "stolen goods," from Anglo-French pelf, Old French pelfre "booty, spoils" (11c.), of unknown origin; also see pilfer. Meaning "money, riches," with a pejorative overtone first recorded c.1500.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper