pilferage

English

Etymology

pilfer +‎ -age

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈpɪlf(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

pilferage (countable and uncountable, plural pilferages)

  1. The individual act or recurring practice of stealing items of low value, especially in small quantities, for which the legal term is petty theft.
    • 1942 May-June, “Theft on the Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 130:
      Sir Thomas Royden, Chairman of the L.M.S.R., and Mr. Robert Holland-Martin, Chairman of the Southern Railway, both deplored the wholesale robbery and petty pilferage which have increased until they have reached appalling dimensions.
    • 1981, John Updike, Rabbit is Rich:
      Still, there is pilferage, mysterious discrepancies eating into the percentages.

Translations
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