Cheating
cheat (?), n. (rob. an abbrevationof 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.) 1. An act of deception or
fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a
trick; imposition; imposture.
When I consider life, tis all a cheat.
Dryden.
2. One who cheats or deceives; an
impostor; a deceiver; a cheater.
Airy wonders, which cheats interpret.
Johnson
3. (Bot.) A troublesome grass,
growing as a weed in grain fields; -- called also chess.
See Chess.
4. (Law) The obtaining of property
from another by an intentional active distortion of the
truth.
f 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.
Syn. -- Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion;
artifice; trick; swindle; deceit; guile; finesse; stratagem.
cheat , v. t. (imp. p. pr.
to impose upon; to trick; to swindle.
I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his
cunning hath cheated me of this island.
Shak.
2. To beguile. Sir W.
Scott.
To cheat winter of its dreariness.
W. Irving.
Syn. -- To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit;
circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach;
delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle.
cheat , v. i. To practice fraudor trickery; as, to cheat at cards.
cheat , n. (Perh. from OF.chete goods, chattels.) Wheat, or bread made
from wheat. (Obs.) Drayton.
Their purest cheat,
Thrice bolted, kneaded, and subdued in paste.
Chapman.
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