Definition

Verb: 1. To deceive or cheat someone, especially in a cunning or underhanded way; to swindle. This word means to trick someone out of something, such as money or property, through dishonesty or fraud. It is an informal, somewhat humorous term.

Usage

• Verb (transitive): The word is used with a direct object (the person being deceived). It is often used in the pattern: to hornswoggle someone (out of something).
• Register: Informal, colloquial. It carries a tone of folksy or old-fashioned trickery rather than sophisticated crime.

Examples

• The con artist tried to hornswoggle the elderly couple out of their life savings.
• I think that salesman hornswoggled me; this gadget doesn't work at all!
• He felt he had been hornswoggled into signing a bad contract.

Advanced Usage

• The term often implies the deception was successful and the victim was made to look foolish.
  • Example: "The entire town was hornswoggled by the stranger's promises of a miracle cure."

Variants and Related Words

• Hornswoggler (noun): A person who hornswoggles; a swindler or cheat.
  • Example: "That charming hornswoggler sold me a map to a non-existent treasure."

Synonyms

• Swindle: To cheat someone out of money or property.
• Defraud: To illegally obtain money from someone by deception.
• Bamboozle: To confuse or fool someone (often less focused on financial loss).
• Hoodwink: To deceive or trick.
• Con: To persuade someone to do or believe something by lying.

Related Phrases & Idioms

• To be hornswoggled: To be in a state of having been cheated or tricked.
  • Example: "After checking the facts, she realized she had been thoroughly hornswoggled."

Verb

1. deprive of by deceit
   • He swindled me out of my inheritance
   • She defrauded the customers who trusted her
   • the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change