Pelf
PELF, a term now chiefly used of money and always in a derogatory sense. The word originally meant plunder, pillage (O. Fr. Pelfre, probably from Lat. pilare, to deprive of hair, pilus), and this significance is still kept in the related word " pilfer," to make petty thefts.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
