pelf

noun

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.

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

   “Raph. Sirra Hammon Hammon, dost thou thinke a shooe-maker is so base, to be a bawd to his own wife for cõmodity! take thy gold, choake with it: were I not lame, I would make thee eate thy words. Firke. A shoomaker sell his flesh and blood, oh indignitie! Hodg. Sirra, take up your pelfe, and be packing.”

   “For what greater folly can there be, or madneſſe, then to […] keepe backe from his wife and children, neither letting them, nor other friends uſe or enjoy that which is theirs by right, and which they much need perhaps; like a hog, or dog in the manger, he doth onely keep it, becauſe it ſhall doe no body elſe good, hurting himſelfe and others; and for a little momentary pelfe, damne his owne ſoule.”

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

   “Now for women, in ſtead of laborious ſtudies, they have curious, needleworkes, Cut-workes, ſpinning, bone-lace, and many prettie deviſes of their owne making, to adorne their houſes, […] Which to her gueſts ſhe ſhews, with all her pelfe, / Thus far my maides, but this I did my ſelf.”

3. Dust; fluff.
4. A contemptible or useless person.