pelf
Money, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammonMoney, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammon.
Meaning
4 senses(dated, derogatory, uncountable)Money, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammon.
(dated, uncountable)Rubbish, trash; specifically (UK, dialectal) refuse from plants.
(uncountable)Dust; fluff.
(Yorkshire, countable, derogatory)A contemptible or useless person.
- informal terms for money
Origin
From Late Middle English pelf, pelfe (“stolen goods, booty, spoil; forfeited property; monFrom 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.
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Forms
plural: pelfsSynonyms
33 synonymsWord family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.