Pĕlf, n.

noun

n. [Originally, trash, rubbish, refuse, abbreviated from O. Eng. pelfry, O. Fr. pelfre, booty; N. Norm. Fr. peuffe, peuffre, O. Fr. peufferie, frippery; O. Fr. pelfrer, to pillage, from pilfier, pilféer, to steal, rob, from Lat. pilare, to plunder, and facere, to make. Cf. PILFER.] Money; riches; lure; gain; wealth; mammon; — generally conveying the idea of something ill gotten or worthless. It has no plural. “That they should not look to the paltry pelf of the moment.” Burke.

Can their pelf prosper, not got by valor or industry, but deceit? Fuller.