| 释义 |
▪ I. swindle, n.1
Local variant of swingle n.1 Also in Comb. swyndilland = swingle-hand.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 696/7–8 Hoc exculidium, a swyndylstoc. Hoc excudium, a swyndilland. 1857Borrow Rom. Rye xxx, I drank with the harvesters, who sang me songs about rural life, such as—‘Sitting in the swale; and listening to the swindle of the flail, as it sounds dub-a-dub on the corn, from the neighbouring barn.’
▪ II. † swindle, n.2 Obs.
[ad. early mod.Du. swindel (Du. zwendel) = MHG. swindel, swintel (G. schwindel), f. Teut. swind-: see swind v. and -le. Cf. swindling vbl. n.1]
Giddiness, vertigo.
1559Morwyng Evonym. 137 This lyquor is good for the headache, fallinge sicknesse, frensye, swindle or turnsicknes.
▪ III. swindle, n.3|ˈswɪnd(ə)l|
[f. swindle v.2]
1. a. An act of swindling; a fraudulent transaction or scheme; a cheat, fraud, imposition.
1833in A. Bunn Stage (1840) I. 134 There was a universal cry of ‘off-off’—‘swindle-swindle’. 1852C. W. Day Five Yrs'. Resid. W. Indies II. 185 The West India Islands are full of the swindles of European tradesmen. Wine and spirits are shockingly adulterated, [etc.]. 1881Jrnl. Inst. Bankers Nov. 573 The trustees under liquidation never have their bills taxed; they charge what they like and do what they like; it is a perfect swindle with them.
b. spec. (slang or local): see quots.
1870Law Reports, Davey v. Walmsley (Farmer), Lotteries are announced and commonly known as swindles. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 576 When he [sc. a Western man] wishes to know what he has to pay, he asks, What's the damage? or, not so charitably, What's the swindle? 1890Barrère & Leland Slang Dict. s.v., When a proposition is made to toss for a drink by spinning a coin, the phrase is generally ‘let's have a swindle’.
2. Something that is not what it appears or is pretended to be; a ‘fraud’. colloq.
1866Howells Venet. Life i. 4 Let us take, for example, that pathetic swindle, the Bridge of Sighs. 1882T. G. Bowles Flotsam & Jetsam 395 As a sea the Mediterranean is a mere swindle. It is, indeed, not a sea at all, but a miserable puddle.
3. Special combination. swindle sheet slang (chiefly U.S.), an expense account; also (joc.) in extended use, of other documents which conceal (or reveal) fraudulence and other ‘swindles’, as a log-book or time sheet.
1923N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/3 Swindle sheet, the advance agent's expense account. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra ii. 42 The Apollo [hotel] got a big play from salesmen who had their swindle sheets to think of. 1936Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Feb. 125/3 The ‘swindle-sheet’ for the average motor-car shows that 40 per cent of the fuel energy goes into the cooling water. 1960H. L. Lawrence Children of Light v. 77 The fare's ten bob... Put it on the swindle sheet. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 161 Swindle sheet, the daily log book, mandatory for all drivers.
▪ IV. † swindle, v.1
Obs.: see swindling vbl. n.1
▪ V. ˈswindle, v.2
[Back-formation f. swindler.]
1. intr. To act the swindler; to practise fraud, imposition, or mean artifice, esp. for the purpose of obtaining money.
1782Bailey, Swindle, to get Money on false Pretences. 1802James Milit. Dict., Swindle,..a cant word signifying to cheat. 1820Shelley Hymn Merc. xlix, Those Who swindle, house-break, sheep-steal, and shop-lift. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvi, Hardy English adventurers who have..swindled in all the capitals of Europe.
2. trans. To cheat, defraud (a person) out of money or property.
1803Syd. Smith Delphine Wks. 1859 I. 46/1 Though she swindles Delphine out of her estate. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Christ. 243 Having been intrusted with the management of a bank in the Piscina publica, he swindled and ruined the depositors. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xiv. 162 It appears that del Monte has swindled his wife—his widow—out of every sixpence she possessed.
b. To bring into some specified condition by swindling.
1810in Life Adam Clarke viii. (1834) 192, I might swindle away this poor Sarah Boswell from your chapels to ours. 1839Thackeray Fatal Boots Oct., When I had paid the debt into which I had been swindled by her.
3. To get or gain by swindling. ? Obs.
1804Revol. Plutarch II. 306 The convention of Alexandria, which Buonaparte swindled from the trembling Melas. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. v, Lamotte..had..swindled a sum of three-hundred livres from one of them. |