honeyfugglev.
/ˈhʌnɪˌfʌɡl/, U.S. /ˈhəniˌfəɡ(ə)l/ U.S. colloquial. Now somewhat dated.
1.
a. transitive. To deceive, swindle; to cajole.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > treat fraudulently, cheat [verb (transitive)]
deceivec1330
defraud1362
falsec1374
abuse?a1439
fraud1563
visure1570
cozen1583
coney-catch1592
to fetch in1592
cheat1597
sell1607
mountebanka1616
dabc1616
nigglea1625
to put it on1625
shuffle1627
cuckold1644
to put a cheat on1649
tonya1652
fourbe1654
imposturea1659
impose1662
slur1664
knap1665
to pass upon (also on)1673
snub1694
ferret1699
nab1706
shool1745
humbug1750
gag1777
gudgeon1787
kid1811
bronze1817
honeyfuggle1829
Yankee1837
middle1863
fuck1866
fake1867
skunk1867
dead-beat1888
gold-brick1893
slicker1897
screw1900
to play it1901
to do in1906
game1907
gaff1934
scalp1939
sucker1939
sheg1943
swizz1961
butt-fuck1979
1829 Virginia Lit. Museum 30 Dec. 458 Honeyfuggle, to quiz, to cozen.
1842 New-Hampsh. Statesman & State Jrnl. 13 May The fellow that wrote the following, must have been as mad as a March hare. Perhaps he has been honeyfugled by a dandy!
1888 Cent. Mag. 36 81/2 A-tryin' to honey-fugle the varmint to git 'im to come underneath.
1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel xix. 157 He's been tryin' to honeyfuggle the old man into a trade.
1975 S. J. Perelman Vinegar Puss 85 I might have been any stagedoor John honeyfogling some fly chorus girl with a nosegay of wilted flowers.
1996 C. Anderson Keegan's Lady 7 Behind him rode Estyn Beiler, one of the two scoundrels who had honey-fuggled Joseph in Saint Louis.
b. transitive. To obtain by duplicity or blandishment. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by irregular means
miswinc1400
sorn1563
shirk1635
sponge1676
whizzle1787
mooch1865
honeyfuggle1905
hot-stuff1914
scrounge1917
hum1918
ponce1938
organize1941
bludge1944
1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree xxiii. 273 Whatever terms he could honeyfugle out of my conciliation-mad candidate.
2. intransitive. To act in an underhand, indirect, or ingratiating manner in order to deceive a person or to obtain something. Also with around.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > act fraudulently, cheat [verb (intransitive)]
faitc1330
defraudc1384
to take (the) advantagea1393
false1393
halt1412
haft1519
juggle1528
wily beguile1550
foist1584
lurch1593
fog1621
imposture1624
rook1637
impone1640
cheat1647
chicane1671
humbug1753
fineer1765
gag1781
mountebank1814
jockeya1835
sniggle1837
barney1848
straw1851
honeyfuggle1856
skinch1891
finagle1926
1856 Congress. Globe 22 July App. 965 Pardon me for using the word, but Sharp ‘honey-fuggled’ around me.
1887 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 7 May 4 The modern practices in politics..of honey-fuggling with rascals instead of hitting them a death blow between the eyes.
1906 Nation (N.Y.) 22 Feb. 149 ‘Don't honey-fugle,’ he advised the committee, ‘but go to the bottom in any way possible.’
1941 Time 26 May 16/3 Things which..Baruch had to wangle by what he called ‘buttering & honey-fuggling’.
1994 E. Buchanan Miami, it's Murder (1995) 101 He don't want anybody else honeyfuggling around you.
Derivatives
ˈhoneyfuggling n.
ΚΠ
1840 Raleigh Reg. & N. Carolina Gaz. 20 Mar. When they mean honey-fuggling as you and Prentiss do, they use the term ‘financiering’.
1875 Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig & Courier 14 June Temperance men..will not prove profitable subjects for Democratic honey-fugling.
1941 Sandusky (Ohio) Reg.-Star-News 10 Sept. 4/4 Are we going to abandon our insistence on American rights in international trade on any such greasy honeyfuggling as this?
2000 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 6 Sept. b1 ‘There's too much honey fuggling and boondoggling..,’ said Cole.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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