Cheat

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Cheat, n. [rob. an abbrevation of escheat, lands or tenements that fall to a lord or to the state by forfeiture, or by the death of the tenant without heirs; the meaning being explained by the frauds, real or supposed, that were resorted to in procuring escheats. See Escheat.].

•  An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture.  [1913 Webster]

  "When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat."  [1913 Webster]
•  One who cheats or deceives; an impostor; a deceiver; a cheater.  [1913 Webster]

  "Airy wonders, which cheats interpret."  [1913 Webster]
•  A troublesome grass, growing as a weed in grain fields; -- called also chess. See Chess.  [1913 Webster]
•  The obtaining of property from another by an intentional active distortion of the truth.  [1913 Webster]

  " When cheats are effected by deceitful or illegal symbols or tokens which may affect the public at large and against which common prudence could not have guarded, they are indictable at common law. Wharton. "  Wharton.

Syn. -- Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion; artifice; trick; swindle; deceit; guile; finesse; stratagem.

Cheat, v. t. [See Cheat, n., Escheat.].

•  To deceive and defraud; to impose upon; to trick; to swindle.  [1913 Webster]

  "I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island."  [1913 Webster]
•  To beguile.  Sir W. Scott.  [1913 Webster]

  "To cheat winter of its dreariness."

Syn. -- To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach; delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle.

Cheat, v. i. 

 To practice fraud or trickery; as, to cheat at cards.  [1913 Webster]

Cheat, n. [Perh. from OF. cheté goods, chattels.].

 Wheat, or bread made from wheat.  Drayton.  [1913 Webster]
"Their purest cheat,
Thrice bolted, kneaded, and subdued in paste."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Cheat, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. a (often foll. by into, out of) deceive or trick (cheated into parting with his savings). b (foll. by of) deprive of (cheated of a chance to reply).
2 intr. gain unfair advantage by deception or breaking rules, esp. in a game or examination.
3 tr. avoid (something undesirable) by luck or skill (cheated the bad weather).
4 tr. archaic divert attention from, beguile (time, tedium, etc.).
--n.
1 a person who cheats.
2 a trick, fraud, or deception.
3 an act of cheating.

Idiom

cheat on colloq. be sexually unfaithful to.

Derivative

cheatingly adv.

Etymology

ME chete f. achete, var. of ESCHEAT

THESAURUS

Cheat

ballot-box stuffing, bamboozle, bamboozlement, beat, befool, beguile, beguile of, bilk, blackleg, boodle, bunco, burn, cardsharping, charlatan, cheater, cheating, chicane, chicanery, chisel, chiseler, chouse, chouse out of, clinquant, cog, cog the dice, con, con man, confidence man, counterfeit, cozen, cozenage, cozener, crib, crook, deceit, deceive, deceiver, deception, defraud, defrauder, delude, diddle, diddler, diddling, dishonesty, do, do in, do out of, dodge, doodle, double-cross, double-dealer, double-dealing, duff, dummy, dupe, euchre, evade, fake, fakement, faker, falsify, fiddle, finagle, fishy transaction, flam, fleece, flimflam, flimflam man, flimflammer, fob, fool, forgery, frame-up, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, fudge, gerrymandering, gouge, graft, grift, gull, gyp, gyp artist, gyp joint, gypper, hanky-panky, have, hoax, hocus, hocus-pocus, hoodwink, humbug, illicit business, imitation, imposition, impostor, imposture, juggler, junk, lie, mace, mislead, mock, mountebank, mulct, operator, overreach, pack the deal, paste, phony, pigeon, pinchbeck, practice fraud upon, put-on, put-up job, racket, ream, rip off, rip-off, rogue, rook, scam, screw, sell, sell gold bricks, sham, shark, sharp practice, sharper, sharpie, shave, shift, shift about, shoddy, short, shortchange, simulacrum, skin, slick, stack the cards, stick, sting, sucker, swindle, swindler, take, take a dive, take in, thimblerig, throw a fight, tinsel, trick, trickery, trickster, two-timer, victimize, whited sepulcher

ROGET THESAURUS

Cheat

Deception

N deception, falseness, untruth, imposition, imposture, fraud, deceit, guile, fraudulence, fraudulency, covin, knavery, misrepresentation, bluff, straw-bail, straw bid, spoof, delusion, gullery, juggling, jugglery, slight of hand, legerdemain, prestigiation, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, conjuration, hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship, trickery, coggery, chicanery, supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion, treachery, practical joke, trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite, card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck, artful dodge, swindle, tricks upon travelers, stratagem, confidence trick, fake, hoax, theft, ballot-box stuffing, barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game, shell game, thimblerig, skin game, snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin, springe, springle, noose, hoot, bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens, cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime, dionaea, Venus's flytrap, ambush, trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom, spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery, mine, flytrap, green goods, panel house, Cornish hug, wolf in sheep's clothing, disguise, disguisement, false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes, pattes de velours, mockery, copy, counterfeit, sham, make- believe, forgery, fraud, lie, a delusion a mockery and a snare, hollow mockery, whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher, tinsel, paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels, scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint, veneer, jerry building, man of straw, illusion, ignis fatuus, mirage, deceived, deceiving, cunning, prestigious, prestigiatory, deceptive, deceptious, deceitful, covinous, delusive, delusory, illusive, illusory, elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus, untrue, mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard, surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated, unsound, rotten at the core, colorable, disguised, meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated, catchpenny, Brummagem, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, simulated, under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of, over the left, keep the word of promise to the ear and break it t, fronti nulla fides, ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, a quicksand of deceit, decipimur specie recti, falsi crimen, fraus est celare fraudem, lupus in fabula, so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue.

VB deceive, take in, defraud, cheat, jockey, do, cozen, diddle, nab, chouse, play one false, bilk, cully, jilt, bite, pluck, swindle, victimize, abuse, mystify, blind one's eyes, blindfold, hoodwink, throw dust into the eyes, dupe, gull, hoax, fool, befool, bamboozle, flimflam, hornswoggle, trick, impose upon, practice upon, play upon, put upon, palm off on, palm upon, foist upon, snatch a verdict, bluff off, bluff, bunko, four flush, gum, spoof, stuff (a ballot box), circumvent, overreach, outreach, out wit, out maneuver, steal a march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle, entrap, intrap, ensnare, nick, springe, set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for, bait the hook, forelay, spread the toils, lime, trapan, trepan, kidnap, let in, hook in, nousle, nousel, blind a trail, enmesh, immesh, shanghai, catch, catch in a trap, sniggle, entangle, illaqueate, hocus, escamoter, practice on one's credulity, hum, humbug, gammon, stuff up, sell, play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on, balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale, fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand, make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of, make an ass of, trifle with, cajole, flatter, come over, gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon, dissemble, cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck, live by one's wits, play at hide and seek, obtain money under false pretenses, conjure, juggle, practice chicanery, deacon, play off, palm off, foist off, fob-off, lie, misinform, mislead, betray, be deceived.

Deceiver

N deceiver &c (deceive), dissembler, hypocrite, sophist, Pharisee, Jesuit, Mawworm, Pecksniff, Joseph Surface, Tartufe, Janus, serpent, snake in the grass, cockatrice, Judas, wolf in sheep's clothing, jilt, shuffler, stool pigeon, liar &c (lie), story-teller, perjurer, false witness, menteur a triple etage, Scapin, bunko steerer, carpetbagger, capper, faker, fraud, four flusher, horse coper, ringer, spieler, straw bidder, imposter, pretender, soi-disant, humbug, adventurer, Cagliostro, Fernam Mendez Pinto, ass in lion's skin, actor, quack, charlatan, mountebank, saltimbanco, saltimbanque, empiric, quacksalver, medicaster, Rosicrucian, gypsy, man of straw, conjuror, juggler, trickster, prestidigitator, jockey, crimp, decoy, decoy duck, rogue, knave, cheat, swindler, jobber, saint abroad and a devil at home.