Definition of Hornswoggle

1. Verb. Deprive of by deceit. "They hornswoggle him of all his money"; "The cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change"

Exact synonyms: Bunco, Con, Defraud, Diddle, Gip, Goldbrick, Gyp, Mulct, Nobble, Rook, Scam, Short-change, Swindle, Victimize
Specialized synonyms: Short, Short-change
Generic synonyms: Cheat, Chisel, Rip Off
Derivative terms: Bunco, Con, Defrauder, Gyp, Scam, Scammer, Swindle, Swindler, Victimization

Definition of Hornswoggle

1. Verb. (transitive) To deceive or trick. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Hornswoggle

1. [v -GLED, -GLING, -GLES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Hornswoggle

hornpipe
hornpiped
hornpipes
hornpiping
hornpout
hornpouts
horns
horns of hyoid bone
horns of plenty
horns of saphenous opening
horns of thyroid cartilage
hornsnake
hornsnakes
hornstone
hornstones
hornswoggle (current term)
hornswoggled
hornswoggler
hornswogglers
hornswoggles
hornswoggling
horntail
horntails
hornwork
hornworks
hornworms
hornwort
hornworts
hornwrack

Literary usage of Hornswoggle

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal by John Camden Hotten (1874)
"hornswoggle, nonsense, humbug. Believed to be of American origin. Horrors, the low spirits, or "blue devils," which follow intoxication. ..."

2. The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the by Henry Louis Mencken (1921)
"But a good many others, eg, to bulldoze, to hornswoggle and to scoot, were genuine inventions, and redolent of the soil. With the new verbs came a great ..."

3. The Fairview Idea: A Story of the New Rural Life by Herbert Quick (1919)
"The mills rob her of the task of making clothes. They also hornswoggle her out of the priceless privilege of grinding corn in a mortar, ..."

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