Hornswaggle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cheat or swindle someone through deception and cunning
2. To mislead or hoodwink a person by using tricks or false claims
3. To dupe or con someone by employing dishonest or fraudulent means

Etymology: Hornswoggle, the more common spelling, is a verb meaning to cheat or bamboozle, and it is most famously associated with the American West. Its origin is uncertain. The most widely repeated story says it was a deliberate coinage from the 1830s or 1840s, but the earliest printed uses are American and date to around the 1830s, and the verb is generally regarded as an alteration of a dialect word, possibly "hornswoggle" from an earlier "hornswoggle" or a blend of "horn" and "swoggle" or "swaggle," though none of these links is firmly documented. Dictionaries such as the OED list its origin as unknown. Because the word is recorded mainly in American speech and newspapers in the nineteenth century, it spread largely through the frontier and humorous writing of the period. Its exaggerated sound suits the boisterous tall tales in which it turned up. The spelling "hornswaggle" is a variant that appears alongside "hornswoggle," and both forms are recognised in standard dictionaries.

Synonyms: bamboozle, hoodwink, deceive, trick