An adroit turn; a trick or subtilty. (Cf. braid, v.1 II.; Old Norse bregðask to change unexpectedly, disappoint, deceive; Old English brægd-boga a…

An act or instance of deception, an artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured, a dishonest trick or stratagem.

A piece of trickery or deception. Obsolete. rare.

An escheat; a cheat, fraud, trick.

A paltry attempt at deception; a contemptible trick or pretence; a piece of humbug. Cf. flam, n.1 3.

An act of fraudulent deception; a cheat, a fraud.

transferred. Something grossly deceptive; an imposture.

The action of cozen, v.; cheating, fraudulent dealing; an imposture.

transferred or figurative. An imposture, trick. Obsolete.

Deception, trickery, imposture; an instance of this, a deception, trick.

A trick, deception, fraud; a false report. Obsolete.

A deception, trick, fraud, imposture.

The practice of cogging; deception, trickery; also, concrete a trick, deception.

= fraudulence, n.; also an instance of this.

The action of imposing upon or deceiving by palming off what is false or unreal; an instance of this, an imposture.

A fraud, deception, trick, imposition. to put a cheat on: to deceive, impose upon (archaic).

A piece of deception; a fraud, trick, imposture.

An illusion; a conjuring trick; a deception, an imposture. Frequently in plural. Now rare.

A trick, hoax, fraud, imposture; something devised to impose upon, delude, or disappoint expectation; a ‘sell’. to put a sham upon: to hoax, defraud…

Deceitful practice; a dishonest line of business; a scam, esp. a horse-racing racket. to play crimp: to cheat; esp. to deliberately lose (a horse…

slang. An imposition, a deception; what is now called a ‘sell’; passing from the notion of playful imposition or hoax, to that of swindle or fraud…

A thing which is not really what it pretends to be; an imposture, a deception, fraud, sham.

An act of using deception, trickery, etc., to obtain or take something, esp. money; an instance of swindling someone; a fraudulent transaction or…

An imposture or deceit; also, a contrivance for undoing the bolt of a door from the outside. Also attributive or adj., deceitful, tricky.

= sham, n.1 adj.

A ‘made-up’ story; a piece of deception, an imposture, a lie. broad gag (see quot. 1823).

Scottish. A ‘take in’, an imposition. Also, one who ‘takes in’, a cheat.

slang. Originally British. A dishonest or fraudulent line of business; a method of swindling for financial gain; a scam. Frequently with preceding…

a false or fraudulent thing; a fraud, cheat, or deception; also in more indirect allusions, as representing the type of something useless or…

slang. A contrivance, fiction, etc., by which a person is ‘sold’: a planned deception, hoax, take-in. Also, something that utterly disappoints…

(See quot. 1851.)

slang. Originally U.S. In extended use: a fraudulent deal or piece of business; a swindle, a scam. Also: an activity considered to be characterized…

a disadvantageous settlement or purchase misleadingly presented as a bargain; a swindle.

= swizz, n.

A disappointment or ‘swindle.’ Frequently in the exclamation ‘What a swizz!’

An affectation, a pretence; a deception; a hoax; a spoof, a prank. Also as a mass noun: pretence, deception.

A conspiracy, swindle, or fraud; a fake. Cf. ready, v. 4b.

A fraudulent or dishonest practice; a trick, a dodge. Frequently with modifying word.

New Zealand slang. A fraudulent or dishonest practice or arrangement; a trick, a hoax, a swindle.