I. con 1 /kɒn $ kɑːn/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle conned , present participle conning ) [transitive] informal
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: confidence trick ]
1 . to get money from someone by deceiving them SYN swindle
con somebody out of something
He conned me out of £300.
2 . to persuade someone to do something by deceiving them SYN trick
con somebody into doing something
You had no right to con me into thinking I could trust you.
II. con 2 BrE AmE noun [countable] informal
[ Sense 1: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ con 1 ]
[ Sense 2: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ convict 1 ]
1 . a trick to get someone’s money or make them do something:
a con to make people pay for goods they hadn’t actually received
2 . a prisoner
⇨ ↑ mod cons , ⇨ the pros and cons at ↑ pro 1 (3)