different between pilfer vs despoil

English

Etymology

From Middle English pilfre (“booty”), from Old French pelfre (“plunder, booty, spoils”), of unknown origin. Compare pelf.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?l.f?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?l.f?/

Verb

pilfer (third-person singular simple present pilfers, present participle pilfering, simple past and past participle pilfered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practise petty theft.

Derived terms

• pilferage
• pilferer

Related terms

• pelf

See also

• fib

Translations

Anagrams

• reflip

English

Etymology

From Middle English despoylen, dispoylen, from Old French despoillier ( > French dépouiller), from Latin d?spoli?, d?spoli?re.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??sp??l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Verb

despoil (third-person singular simple present despoils, present participle despoiling, simple past and past participle despoiled)

1. (transitive) To plunder; to pillage; take spoil from.
   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:

     a law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled

   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 5:

     Ripton was familiar with the rod, a monster much despoiled of his terrors by intimacy.

   • 2010, The Economist, 17 July, p.53:

     To dreamers in the West, Tibet is a Shangri-La despoiled by Chinese ruthlessness and rapacity.

2. (transitive) To violently strip (someone), with indirect object of their possessions etc.; to rob.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, 410-11:

     To intercept thy way, or send thee back / Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.

   • 1849, Thomas Macaulay, History of England, Chapter 20:

     A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled.

3. (obsolete, transitive or reflexive) To strip (someone) of their clothes; to undress.

Related terms

• despoiler
• despoilment
• despoliation
• spoliate
• spoliation

Translations

Noun

despoil (plural despoils)

1. (obsolete) Plunder; spoliation.

References

• despoil in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• despoil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• diploes, diploës, dipoles, elopids, peloids, soliped, spoiled