pelf
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of pelf
1300–50; Middle English < Old French pelfre booty
Explanation
Empty your sister's piggy bank and you'll have a pocket full of pelf, or money. It's going to take a lot more pelf than that to buy that fancy bicycle you've got your eye on, though! This old-fashioned word for money isn't used much these days—you're much more likely to say "cash," "dough," or even "cheese." When it was in fashion, pelf often referred to stolen cash, and the word can be traced back to the Old French pelfre, "loot," a source it shares with pilfer, "steal."
Vocabulary lists containing pelf
Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 1
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 1
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Society and Solitude
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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.
It borrowed until it couldn't borrow anymore to pay for a slew of programs, public employee pensions and other pelf it couldn't afford.
From US News • May 26, 2016
Ken S. Huang Memphis The whole world is so rotten with reverence for pelf, one is not surprised to see a work of art esteemed only for its cash value.
From Time Magazine Archive
With a slight fraction of this pelf he combed sandlot, high school, college, obscure league; purchased the economical services of several bright-faced lads; settled to the business of developing another winning team.
From Time Magazine Archive
Marks's organization man is anybody who will not rock the boat, either from fear of being noticed or hope of future pelf.
From Time Magazine Archive
With no base love of pelf or thirst for land, but fed with wisdom, love, and virtue, he should exalt the humbled Italy and drive away her foes.
From Dante Six Sermons by Wicksteed, Philip H.
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.
