Summary: Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 11, 2014 is: filch \FILCH\ verb : to appropriate furtively or casually : to steal (something that is small or that has little value) Examples: After Devin admitted to filching a candy bar from the convenience store, he apologized to the owner but was not allowed in the store again. "(Shia) LaBeouf directed a 2012 short film, HowardCantour.com. Until Dec. 16, one would have imagined that he wrote the film, too. But no, as BuzzFeed revealed (as though the saga lacked intellectual-property intrigue!), he had filched the plot from 'Justin M. Damiano,' a 2007 comic by artist Daniel Clowes." From a post by Jack Dickey on TIME.com, December 23, 2013 Did you know? "I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-box: his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singerhe kept not time." So says Falstaff in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Bard was fond of "filch" in both its literal and figurative uses; Iago says to Othello, "he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him / And makes me poor indeed." "Filch" derives from the Middle English word "filchen" ("to attack" or "to steal") and perhaps from Old English "gefylce" ("band of men, troop, army"). As a noun, "filch" once referred to a hooked staff used by thieves to snatch articles out of windows and from similar places, but this use is now obsolete.
