to defraud; swindle: He cheated her out of her inheritance.
2.
to deceive; influence by fraud: He cheated us into believing him a hero.
3.
to elude; deprive of something expected: He cheated the law by suicide.
–verb (used without object)
4.
to practice fraud or deceit: She cheats without regrets.
5.
to violate rules or regulations: He cheats at cards.
6.
to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.
7.
Informal. to be sexually unfaithful (often fol. by on): Her husband knew she had been cheating all along. He cheated on his wife.
–noun
8.
a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds: He is a cheat and a liar.
9.
a fraud; swindle; deception: The game was a cheat.
10.
Law. the fraudulent obtaining of another's property by a pretense or trick.
11.
an impostor: The man who passed as an earl was a cheat.
[Origin: 1325–75; ME chet (n.) (aph. for achet, var. of eschetescheat); cheten to escheat, deriv. of chet (n.)]
—Related forms
cheat·a·ble, adjective
cheat·ing·ly, adverb
—Synonyms 1. mislead, dupe, delude; gull, con; hoax, fool. Cheat,deceive,trick,victimize refer to the use of fraud or artifice deliberately to hoodwink or obtain an unfair advantage over someone. Cheat implies conducting matters fraudulently, esp. for profit to oneself: to cheat at cards. Deceive suggests deliberately misleading or deluding, to produce misunderstanding or to prevent someone from knowing the truth: to deceive one's parents. To trick is to deceive by a stratagem, often of a petty, crafty, or dishonorable kind: to trick someone into signing a note. To victimize is to make a victim of; the emotional connotation makes the cheating, deception, or trickery seem particularly dastardly: to victimize a blind man. 8. swindler, trickster, sharper, dodger, charlatan, fraud, fake, phony, mountebank. 9. imposture, artifice, trick, hoax.
c.1375, aphetic of O.Fr. escheat, legal term for revision of property to state when owner dies without heirs, lit. "that which falls to one," pp. of escheoir "befall by chance, happen, devolve," from V.L. *excadere "to fall away," from L. ex- "out" + cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). Meaning evolved through "confiscate" (c.1440) to "deprive unfairly" (1590). To cheat on (someone) "be sexually unfaithful" first recorded 1934.
weedy annual grass often occurs in grainfields and other cultivated land; seeds sometimes considered poisonous [syn: darnel]
2.
weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat [syn: chess]
3.
someone who leads you to believe something that is not true [syn: deceiver]
4.
the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme; "that book is a fraud" [syn: swindle]
5.
a deception for profit to yourself
verb
1.
deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money"
2.
defeat someone through trickery or deceit
3.
engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud; "Who's chiseling on the side?"
4.
be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage; "She cheats on her husband"; "Might her husband be wandering?" [syn: cheat on]
Cheat Lake, WV (CDP, FIPS 14775) Location: 39.67205 N, 79.85363 W Population (1990): 3992 (1623 housing units) Area: 33.2 sq km (land), 3.5 sq km (water)
Cheat\, n. [rob. an abbrevation of escheat, lands or tenements that fall to a lord or to the state by forfeiture, or by the death of the tenant without heirs; the meaning being explained by the frauds, real or supposed, that were resorted to in procuring escheats. See Escheat.]1. An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture. When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat. --Dryden. 2. One who cheats or deceives; an impostor; a deceiver; a cheater. Airy wonders, which cheats interpret. --Johnson 3. (Bot.) A troublesome grass, growing as a weed in grain fields; -- called also chess. See Chess. 4. (Law) The obtaining of property from another by an intentional active distortion of the truth. Note: When cheats are effected by deceitful or illegal symbols or tokens which may affect the public at large and against which common prudence could not have guarded, they are indictable at common law. --Wharton. Syn: Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion; artifice; trick; swindle; deceit; guile; finesse; stratagem.
Cheat\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cheated; p. pr. & vb. n. Cheating.] [See Cheat, n., Escheat.]1. To deceive and defraud; to impose upon; to trick; to swindle. I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island. --Shak. 2. To beguile. --Sir W. Scott. To cheat winter of its dreariness. --W. Irving. Syn: To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach; delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle.
Cheat\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cheated; p. pr. & vb. n. Cheating.] [See Cheat, n., Escheat.]1. To deceive and defraud; to impose upon; to trick; to swindle. I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island. --Shak. 2. To beguile. --Sir W. Scott. To cheat winter of its dreariness. --W. Irving. Syn: To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach; delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle.
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