filch
/fɪlt͡ʃ/
filch verb: to illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
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Verb
filch (third-person singular simple present filches, present participle filching, simple past and past participle filched)
- To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
- Hey, someone filched my wallet!
- You would foiſt in non cauſam pro cauſa ["I do not bring into question"], have it thought your flight from your olde companions, obſcuritie and ſilence, was onely, with Æneas, to carry your father on your backe through the fire of ſlaunder, and by that shift, with the false plea of patience...1592, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Arrainment and Execution of the Third Letter”, in Strange Newes, of the Intercepting Certaine Letters and a Convoy of Verses, […], London: […] Iohn Danter, […], →OCLC...
Noun
filch (plural filches)
- Something which has been filched or stolen.
- 'New Sabbath' is partially a filch from [George Frideric] Handel's beautiful but voluptuous song in Hercules, 'There the brisk sparkling nectar drains.'1876 May 6, “Kingston”, quoting the Surrey Advertiser, “[Queries:] Profane Hymn Tunes”, in [John] Doran, editor, Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers...
- An act of filching; larceny, theft.
- By the appropriation clause, which is here referred to, it was proposed to apply a part of the property of the Irish Church to secular purposes, that is, to work a transfer of property, with an alteration of its uses. Call this as you will, a spoliation, or wise application, it implies a loss to...1860, Lawrence Peel, “To John B[acon] S[awrey] Morritt, Esq., Portland Place, London [letter from Sir Walter Scott]”, in A Sketch of the Life and Character of Sir Robert Peel, London: Longman, Green...
- A person who filches; a filcher, a pilferer, a thief.
- A ſimple lad, with a whip in one hand, and the other locked in the arm of a young girl, is ſo loſt in gaping aſtoniſhment, that an adroit branch of the family of the Filches is clearing his pockets of their contents.1803, William Hogarth; Thomas Cook, engraver, “Southwark Fair”, in Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth, and Explanatory Descriptions of the Plates of Hogarth Restored. Engraved by Thomas Cook, London: Printed...
- A hooked stick used to filch objects.
- Thus much for their fraternities, names, lodgings, and assemblies, at all which times everyone of them carries a short staff in his hand, which is called a filch, having in the nab, or head, of it, a ferme (that is to say, a hole) into which, upon any piece of service, when he goes a filching, he...1930, Thomas Dekker [?], “O Per Se O (1612)”, in A[rthur] V[alentine] Judges, editor, The Elizabethan Underworld: A Collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts and Ballads Telling of the Lives and...
filch meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada
filch in Tamil
- களவாடு
filch in Urdu
- چرانا, مار لینا, سرقہ کرنا
filch in Kannada
- ಕದಿ, ಎಗರಿಸು
Examples of filch in a sentence
- But he that filches from me my good name, / Robs me of that, vvhich not inriches him, / And makes me poore indeed.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas]...
- You think he could barter and cheat / As vulgar diplomates use, / With the people’s heart in his breast? / […] / And filch the dogman's meat / To feed the offspring of God?1860, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Napoleon III in Italy”, in Poems before Congress, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza XV, page...
- His very cocksureness is filched from [Charles] Darwin's morality of strength based on the survival of the fittest.1916 April, Jack London, chapter XXIX, in The Little Lady of the Big House, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 342:
- Few traces remain in this district of the great wall [Hadrian's Wall], except the unmistakable masonry blocks filched, and used for the construction of later buildings.1955 February, M. F. Barbey, “From Carlisle to Silloth”, in Railway Magazine, page 94:
Synonyms of filch
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of filch
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | filches |
| present participle | filching |
| past participle | filched |
| past | filched |
| Noun | |
| plural | filches |
Origin of filch
From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also related to folk.
Words formed from filch
Words that rhyme with filch
Questions about filch
- What does filch mean?
- Filch means to illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
- What is filch in Tamil?
- Filch in Tamil is களவாடு. See Filch meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use filch in a sentence?
- But he that filches from me my good name, / Robs me of that, vvhich not inriches him, / And makes me poore indeed.
- What part of speech is filch?
- Filch can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce filch?
- Filch is pronounced /fɪlt͡ʃ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of filch?
- The past tense of filch is filched.
Words near filch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: filch (page history and authors); filch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); filch (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); filch (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “filch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/filch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.