confidence game
confidence game
1855–60, Americanism
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
:10
:09
:08
:07
:06
:05
:04
:03
:02
:01
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| confidence trick or (US and Canadian) confidence game | |
| —n | |
| con trick, Informal shortened forms: con game a swindle involving money, goods, etc, in which the victim's trust is won by the swindler | |
| confidence game or (US and Canadian) confidence game | |
| —n | |
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
confidence game
Also, confidence trick; con game. A swindle in which the victim is defrauded after his or her trust has been won. For example, The police warned of a confidence game in which people were asked to turn over valuables for a so-called appraisal, or The typical confidence trick is easy to spot if you know what to look for, or I almost let myself be taken in by her con game
she seemed so sincere. These terms, which use confidence in the sense of "trust," date from the mid-1800s. They also gave rise to confidence man (or con man) for the swindler.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
confidence game
any elaborate swindling operation in which advantage is taken of the confidence the victim reposes in the swindler. Some countries have created a statutory offense of this name, though the elements of the crime have never been clearly defined by legislation, and the scope of proscribed behaviour remains subject to varying interpretations among jurisdictions.
Learn more about confidence game with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source