chouse
/t͡ʃaʊ̯s/ verb, noun
Forms chouses chousing choused chiaus chowse
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To cheat, to trick.
- noun (obsolete) One who is easily cheated; a gullible person.
- noun (obsolete) A trick; a sham.
- noun (obsolete) A swindler.
- verb (US, of cattle) To handle roughly, as by chasing or scaring.
- verb (US, regional) To handle, to take care of.
- verb (transitive, US, regional) To cause undesirable activity in livestock, such as running.
Synonyms
Etymology
Probably from Turkish çavuş. Doublet of chiaus.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cheat, trick, defraud; --followed by of, or out of; as, to chouse one out of his money. [Colloq.]
- noun One who is easily cheated; a tool; a simpleton; a gull. Hudibras.
- noun A trick; sham; imposition. Johnson.
Etymology [From Turk. cha\'d4sh a messenger or interpreter, one of whom, attached to the Turkish embassy, in 1609 cheated the Turkish merchants resident in England out of £4,000.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chouse”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details