Definition

1. Verb (colloquial):
   • To pocket without a hitch / to swallow: To take something, especially money, completely and smoothly for oneself, often in a dishonest or secretive manner. It implies appropriating something entirely without leaving a trace or facing difficulty.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Hắn ta nuốt trôi năm nghìn đồng. (He pocketed five thousand dong without a hitch.)
  • Nó đã nuốt trôi số tiền ấy. (He completely appropriated that sum of money.)

Advanced Usage

• This term is almost exclusively used in a figurative sense to describe the act of misappropriation or embezzlement, particularly of funds. It carries a negative connotation of deceit or theft.

Variants and Related Words

• Nuốt (v): to swallow. This is the base verb. "Nuốt trôi" intensifies it with the idea of something going down smoothly and being taken completely.
• Chiếm đoạt (v): to usurp, to appropriate. A more formal synonym for the dishonest taking of something.
• Bỏ túi (v): to pocket. A more neutral term for taking something for oneself.

Synonyms

• Embezzle: to steal or misappropriate (money placed in one's trust).
• Pocket: to take for one's own use, especially dishonestly.
• Appropriate: to take possession of something for oneself, often without right.

Related Idioms

• Nuốt sống nuốt tươi: To "swallow alive and raw." This idiom expresses an even more aggressive and ruthless act of appropriation or destruction.
  • Công ty lớn nuốt sống nuốt tươi các đối thủ nhỏ. (The large company ruthlessly swallowed up the small competitors.)

1. (thông tục) Pocket without a hitch, swallow
   • Nuốt trôi năm nghìn đồng
     To pocket without a hitch five thousand dong