prettygoodword (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prettygoodword) wrote2014-03-21 07:25 am
prettygoodword) wrote2014-03-21 07:25 am
hornswoggle
hornswoggle (HAWRN-swog-uhl) - v., to cheat, trick, hoax.
... bamboozle, hoodwink, deceive, and so on. Another colorful 19th century Americanism from the frontier, though in this case there's nothing latinate about it. First attested in 1829, and attempts to explain its origin are all singularly unconvincing, though the idea that cattle horns are involved somehow seems at least a little plausible.
---L.
... bamboozle, hoodwink, deceive, and so on. Another colorful 19th century Americanism from the frontier, though in this case there's nothing latinate about it. First attested in 1829, and attempts to explain its origin are all singularly unconvincing, though the idea that cattle horns are involved somehow seems at least a little plausible.
---L.