Word of the Day

: February 11, 2014

filch

verb FILCH

What It Means

: to appropriate furtively or casually : to steal (something that is small or that has little value)

filch in Context

After Devin admitted to filching a candy bar from the convenience store, he apologized to the owner but was not allowed in the store again.

"(Shia) LaBeouf directed a 2012 short film, HowardCantour.com. Until Dec. 16, one would have imagined that he wrote the film, too. But no, as BuzzFeed revealed (as though the saga lacked intellectual-property intrigue!), he had filched the plot from 'Justin M. Damiano,' a 2007 comic by artist Daniel Clowes." - From a post by Jack Dickey on TIME.com, December 23, 2013

Did You Know?

"I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-box: his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer-he kept not time." So says Falstaff in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Bard was fond of "filch" in both its literal and figurative uses; Iago says to Othello, "he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him / And makes me poor indeed." "Filch" derives from the Middle English word "filchen" ("to attack" or "to steal") and perhaps from Old English "gefylce" ("band of men, troop, army"). As a noun, "filch" once referred to a hooked staff used by thieves to snatch articles out of windows and from similar places, but this use is now obsolete.