A name given to many small birds of the order Passeres, esp. to those of the genus Fringilla or family Fringillidæ. †to pull a finch: to swindle an…

to bore a person's nose: to cheat or swindle a person. to joint a person's nose of (rare): to trick or cheat a person out of. Obsolete.

to wipe a person's nose: to cheat or dupe a person; (with of) to defraud a person of. Obsolete.

intransitive. To practise fraud or imposition. Also with it.

absol. Obsolete.

A credulous person; one easily imposed upon; a dupe, simpleton, fool. †to grope a gull: to swindle an unsuspecting person: cf. to pluck a pigeon, †a…

intransitive. To deal fraudulently, practise deceit.

transitive. Frequent in phrases expressive of actions referred to allusively or figuratively, as to lick one's fingers, to lick one's lips, an…

The action or an act of ‘sharking’. to live upon the shark: to live by sharking.

intransitive. To play the sharper. Obsolete.

intransitive. To defraud a tradesperson by ordering goods to be made in such a way as to be unsaleable to anyone else, after which, if the…

colloquial. to pluck a pigeon and variants: to swindle or fleece a person.

intransitive. To use deception, trickery, etc., to obtain or take something, esp. money; to engage in swindling.

U.S. colloquial (esp. in African-American usage). to run (also put up, whip,etc.) a (also the) game: to employ trickery or deception; to get the…

to sell (a person) a pup: to swindle a person, esp. by selling something of little worth on its supposed prospective value. Frequently in passive…

intransitive and transitive. To perpetrate a fraud; to cheat, trick, or swindle.