English Explanatory Dictionary

pelf

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Money, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammon.
  2. Rubbish, trash; specifically (British, dialectal) refuse from plants.
  3. Dust; fluff.
  4. A contemptible or useless person.

Pronunciation

/pɛlf/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-pelf.wav

Word forms

pelf pelfs

Etymology

From Late Middle English pelf, pelfe (“stolen goods, booty, spoil; forfeited property; money, riches; property; valuable object”), possibly from Anglo-Norman pelf (a variant of pelfre (“booty, loot”)) and Old French peufre (“frippery; rubbish”); further etymology uncertain, possibly a metathesis of Old French felpe, ferpe, frepe (“a rag”). The English word is perhaps related to Late Latin pelfa, pelfra, pelfrum (“forfeited or stolen goods”), Middle French peuffe and French peufe, peuffe (“old clothes; rubbish”) (Normandy), and pilfer.

Synonyms

accession acquirement acquisition acquist attainment gain gaining increase obtainment boodle booty fang gizzit haul hot property loot pelf pickings pillage plunder prigging sack spoil spoils swag ackers bees and honey blunt bones brass bread bread and honey Bugs Bunny cake cheddar cheese ching clams coin cream currency dinero dosh dough feds fedi finances flizz flow funding funds gravy gwop gwolla jack legal tender lolly lovely jubbly mazuma means

Antonyms

baron big cheese big enchilada big gun big kahuna big man big name big noise big shot bigwig big wheel boss grand poobah head honcho heavy hitter heavyweight high muckamuck high muckety-muck king of all one surveys king of the castle king of the hill kingpin macher mayor muckamuck muckety muck mugwump numero uno panjandrum poobah rooster somebody top banana top boy top cat top dog top gun very important person VIP wheel

Related words

pilfer

Derived words

pelfish pelfray pelfry
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