Rooking

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To deceive or swindle someone in a clever manner
2. Engaging in trickery to gain an advantage over another person
3. A method of manipulating situations to extract resources or benefits from others

Etymology: The verb "rook" meaning to cheat or swindle is a figurative use of the bird's name. The bird, a member of the crow family, was known for its dark plumage and raucous calls, and in English the name was extended to people who preyed on others. The sense of swindling is a transferred one: a rook was a gull, a victim easy to pluck, and "rooking" describes the act of doing the plucking. The bird's name itself reaches back to Old English "hrōc," from a Germanic root shared with Dutch "roek" and Old Norse "hrókr," and further back to an Indo-European root meaning "crow" or "raven," which also gave the Greek "kórax." That ancient connection to crows is the thread that runs from the feathered bird to the con artist. The same spelling also names the chess piece, which came into English from Old French "roc," itself borrowed from Persian "rox." That piece is unrelated to the bird and to the verb, so the three uses share only a spelling.