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eal or take privily (commonly, that which is of little value); to pilfer. Fain would they filch that little food away. Dryden. But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. Shak.

One who filches; a thief.

By pilfering or petty stealing.

To cheat; to gain by fraud or cheating; to filch. Gold and jewels that I bobbed from him. Shak.

ere. Wit's Recreations (1654). Now, look to it, coves, that all the beef and drink Be not filched from us. Mrs. Browning.

To appropriate unlawfully; to filch; to defalcate. He who drives their bargain dribs a part. Dryden.

Greatness; extent. [Obs. or Colloq.] The quantity and muchness of time which it filcheth. W. Whately. Much of a muchness, much the same. [Colloq.] "Men's men; gentle or simple, they 're much of muchness." G. Eliot.

To take; to steal; to filch. [Obs.] This canon it in his hand nam. Chaucer.

To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little. And not a year but pilfers as he goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep. Cowper.

To filch or steal; as, to prig a handkerchief. [Cant]

To steal; to rob; to filch. [Low] Johnson.

To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch. Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold. Milton. when did the muse from Fletcher scenes purloin Dryden.