I. ˈchēt, usu -ēd.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: earlier cheat forfeited property, booty, from Middle English chet escheat, short for achet, alteration of eschet — more at escheat
1.
a. : the act or action of cheating or fraudulently deceiving : deception , fraud
his financial activity turned out to be a great cheat
b. : a means of cheating, misleading, tricking, or deluding one putting credence in seeming honesty or genuineness : whatever invites disappointment
the elaborate cheat that the positivistic movement has perpetrated upon the human spirit — Allen Tate
c. : an act or instance of cheating
tax cheats being discovered
d. : one that cheats especially habitually : pretender , deceiver , sharper
if I passed myself off … as a gentleman, I should deserve to be exposed as a cheat — G.B.Shaw
2. archaic : thing , article — usually used with a distinguishing modifier
a smelling cheat is a nose
a nubbing cheat is the gallows
3.
[probably so called from its resemblance to grain among which it grows]
a. : the common chess ( Bromus secalinus )
b. : downy brome
c. : bearded darnel
4. law : the obtaining of property from another by an intentional active distortion of the truth ; especially : the common-law offense later enlarged by statute consisting in defrauding numbers of people by means of deceitful or illegal symbols or tokens but not so as to constitute a felony — compare fraud I 1
Synonyms: see imposture
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: earlier cheat to confiscate, from Middle English cheten to escheat, short for acheten, alteration of escheten — more at escheat
transitive verb
1. : to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud : defraud , swindle
cheat a man out of his savings
suspicious … lest she should be cheated out of the salary she had come resolved to demand — G.B.Shaw
2. : to condition, influence, or lead by or as if by deceit, trick, or artifice
cheated into cordial admiration by the splendor of the verses — Thomas De Quincey
3. : to defeat in an expectation or purpose by or as if by deceit and trickery : disappoint , foil
by God's mercy Ludendorff was cheated of the Channel Ports — S.L.A.Marshall
then I cheated my despair. I said that you were safe — Maurice Baring
4. archaic : to obtain by fraud or trickery
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to practice fraud or trickery
b. : to violate rules dishonestly (as at cards)
2. : to be sexually unfaithful
the divorce suit alleged that he had been cheating on his wife
Synonyms:
swindle , defraud , cozen , overreach : cheat is a general term indicating dishonest and deceitful trickery and is likely to imply censure, blame, or contempt
Jane Orange … was not liked. She was called stingy and it was said that she and her husband had cheated every one with whom they had dealings — Sherwood Anderson
swindle implies gross and large-scale cheating for gain by means of imposture or mean abuse of confidence
the despised Chinese, who were cuffed and maltreated and swindled by the Californians — Van Wyck Brooks
Barnum knew the American public loved to be gulled … His genius consisted in knowing how to swindle them — W.L.Phelps
defraud , a more legalistic word, indicates taking away from or withholding from another his rights or possessions by calculated perversion of truth, chicanery, or coercive pressure
she ever claimed more than she could receive; they, as constantly, called themselves robbed and defrauded — Hilaire Belloc
cozen implies artful or tricky persuading, wheedling, bamboozling, or chiseling in deluding or obtaining
I fought … to save my niche … Old Gandolf cozened me, despite my call — Robert Browning
the Popular Front — that famous opportunity for men of good will to be cozened by the Communists — C.G.Poore
overreach indicates outwitting, as in dealing or bargaining, or cheating, by crafty dishonesty
the suspicion that most of the talk they [the deaf] cannot hear consists in plottings and schemings to overreach or get around them — J.G.Cozzens
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English chet
obsolete : wheat bread inferior to manchet