pelf

Etymology

From 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.

noun

1. (uncountable, chiefly derogatory, dated) Money, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammon.
   The inscriptions on the walls are homilies from the Koran—actual 'sermons in stones'. The inlaid characters in diamond, and other precious stones, have been all abstracted away by the pelf-loving Jaut and Mahratta—leaving the walls defaced with the hollow marks of the chisel. 1869, Bholanauth Chunder, chapter VIII, in The Travels of a Hindoo to Various Parts of Bengal and Upper India.[…], volume I, London: N[icholas] Trübner & Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 411
   But, sighing after his fancies and visionary pursuits, he rebelled and fled fifty miles away for refuge from the lace caps and powdered wigs of his priggish sitters, and resumed his quaint dreams and immeasurable phantasies, never more to forsake them for pelf and portraiture. 1906, Frederick Tatham, “Life of Blake”, in Archibald G[eorge] B[lomefield] Russell, editor, The Letters of William Blake[…], London: Methuen & Co.[…], →OCLC, pages 28–29
   When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf, and the world makes you King for a day, / Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, and see what that guy has to say. 1934, Dale Wimbrow, The Guy in the Glass
   Some of the rich classmates were keeping their pelf to themselves. 1968 October, Nicholas von Hoffman, “The Class of ’43 is Puzzled”, in Robert Manning, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-11-26
   In advertising, show business, and journalism, people work themselves to the nub for glitz and glory more than for pelf. 27 April 1987, Ford S. Worthy, “You’re Probably Working Too Hard”, in Fortune, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-01
   She writes about those she might have known first-hand: teenage girls cowering in bunkers … friends making promises they can never keep … rich folk fattened on wartime pelf, poor folk surviving by wit alone. 20 July 1997, Harriet P. Gross, “Author roots her stories in Vietnam War”, in The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Tex.: A. H. Belo Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC
   Every wised-up wit who mistakes knowingness for knowledge proclaims that Peter Mandelson is a gutless fixer; a master manipulator who will twist and dodge around the clock to keep the privileges of power and pelf. […] If only the idle stereotype were true. 20 February 2000, Nick Cohen, “Without prejudice: Who trusts Mandy?”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 2014-05-09
2. (uncountable, dated) Rubbish, trash; specifically (Britain, dialectal) refuse from plants.
3. (uncountable, Southwest England) Dust; fluff.
4. (countable, Yorkshire, derogatory) A contemptible or useless person.