[f. as prec. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb FILCH.
1567. Drant, Horace Epist., E viij b.
| If thou pur loynst one mette from out a thousand mette of beanes, | |
| My losse is lesse, thy facte not lesse in this thy filchinge meanes. |
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 35. Avoyde filchinge and robbinge.
2. concr. That which is filched or stolen.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, IV. ii. By what purloined moneys of mine, by what reserved filchings from marketing, by what goodly meats converted into grease, and sold in the suburbs, by what false charges for bronzes marred, and earthenware broken—hast thou been enabled to make them serve thee for thy sake?
1872. Geo. Eliot, Middlem., xlvi. To pay some call where she distributed her small filchings from her own share of sweet things.
3. attrib. and Comb., as filching-sack, -trade.
a. 1592. Greene, James IV. (1861), 192. I have many trades: the honest trade when I needs must; the filching trade, when time serves; the cozening trade, as I find occasion.
1836–48. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Knights, I. iii. I’ll flay you for a filching-sack!
