filch

verb

ˈfilch

filched; filching; filches

transitive verb

: to steal secretly or casually

filch a cookie

Did you know?

The award-winning 2019 video game Untitled Goose Game, in which players control the titular (or “un-titular”?) waterfowl through several levels of light and family-friendly mayhem, serves as an excellent primer on the meaning of filch. In fact, many of the game’s objectives involve waddling furtively around a quaint little scene, such as a garden, and trying to avoid detection by humans while you pilfer, say, a pumpkin or a woolen hat. To filch is to steal something (usually, though not always, a small or relatively unimportant something) in secret. So why not just use steal? There’s often a distinct twang of humor or mischievousness in filch that’s not inherent in plain old steal, and that reflects a casualness or nonchalance on the part of the silly goose—whether literal or figurative—snatching the pie from the windowsill.

Choose the Right Synonym for filch

steal, pilfer, filch, purloin mean to take from another without right or without detection.

steal may apply to any surreptitious taking of something and differs from the other terms by commonly applying to intangibles as well as material things.

steal jewels

stole a look at the gifts

pilfer implies stealing repeatedly in small amounts.

pilfered from his employer

filch adds a suggestion of snatching quickly and surreptitiously.

filched an apple from the tray

purloin stresses removing or carrying off for one's own use or purposes.

printed a purloined document

Examples of filch in a Sentence

He filched a pack of gum when no one was looking. too hungry to wait until the party had started, he filched a cookie from the buffet table when no one was looking

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The plot about an attempt to filch a special gobstopper is, of course, lifted directly from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), in which another candy maker named Slugworth seeks to undercut his competition. —

Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 29 Feb. 2024 The mental toughness of Walther’s girls was the difference in the end as the Eagles never filched. —

Timothy Dashiell, Baltimore Sun, 1 Feb. 2024 The ability of corporate directors to hang on to their seats as if with prehensile behinds (to filch Orwell’s turn of phrase) underscores the uselessness of corporate boards. —

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2023 So the first thing to note is that if the charming stranger in this story had filched the woman’s cash or credit cards or phone, no one would have blinked. —

Amy X. Wang, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023 See all Example Sentences for filch