Standard Lemma guide

pelf

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /pɛlf/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛlf

1

noun

Meaning 1

Money, riches; gain, especially when dishonestly acquired; lucre, mammon.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, derogatory, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: accession, acquirement, acquisition, acquist, attainment, gain, gaining, increase, obtainment, boodle, booty, fang, gizzit, haul, hot property, loot, pelf, pickings, pillage, plunder, prigging, sack, spoil, spoils, swag, ackers, bees and honey, blunt, bones, brass, bread, bread and honey, Bugs Bunny, cake, cheddar, cheese, ching, clams, coin, cream, tender, currency, dinero, dosh, dough, feds, fedi, finances, flizz, flow, funding, funds, gravy, gwop, gwolla, jack, legal tender, lolly, lovely jubbly, mazuma, means, money, moola, mozzarella, muck, oof, ooftish, paper, rhino, scratch, scrilla, shrapnel, simoleons, smackers, smackeroos, smackeroonies, spend, spondulicks, wampum, wonga, yenom

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Rubbish, trash; specifically (UK, dialectal) refuse from plants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cultch, crap, debris, dreck, drek, garbage, gash, junk, litter, pelf, piece of crap, piece of garbage, piece of shit, pile of crap, pile of shit, piece of trash, rubbish, refuse, roughage, service item, shit, stuff, trash, waste

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Dust; fluff.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: Southwest England

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A contemptible or useless person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Yorkshire, countable, derogatory

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolute zero, assbucket, asswipe, badling, blatherskite, bugger, carrion, cipher, cockstain, crumb, custron, dandiprat, doink, dirtbag, douchebag, drop kick, fellow, fritlag, fuckbucket, geek, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, gooey, hoon, lidderon, losel, loser, louse, maggot, ne'er-do-well, nobody, no-good, no-mark, nonentity, nonce, nought, nowmun, pelf, pig dog, pile of shit, pissant, punk, puny, quat, ramp, rinky-dink, roly-poly, scullion, shicer, shitheap, slubberdegullion, sparrow-fart, streak of piss, toerag, truant, twerp, wankstain, waste of space, underperson, unworthy, zero

Antonyms: baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise, big shot, bigwig, big wheel, boss, grand poobah, head honcho, heavy hitter, heavyweight, high muckamuck, high muckety-muck, king of all one surveys, king of the castle, king of the hill, kingpin, macher, mayor, muckamuck, muckety muck, mugwump, numero uno, panjandrum, poobah, rooster, somebody, top banana, top boy, top cat, top dog, top gun, very important person, VIP, wheel

5

noun

Meaning 5

informal terms for money

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: boodle, bread, cabbage, clams, dinero, dough, gelt, kale, lettuce, lolly, lucre, loot, moolah, scratch, shekels, simoleons, sugar, wampum

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: money

History

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.