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6 results for: shill

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
shill    Audio Help   [shil] Pronunciation Key Slang.
–noun
1.a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
2.a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
–verb (used without object)
3.to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.
–verb (used with object)
4.to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner of a huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.
[Origin: 1920–25; orig. uncert.]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
shill

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
shill    Audio Help   (shĭl)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.

v.   shilled, shill·ing, shills

v.   intr.
To act as a shill.

v.   tr.
  1. To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).
  2. To lure (a person) into a swindle.


[Perhaps short for shillaber.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
shill 
1916, "one who acts as a decoy for a gambler, auctioneer, etc." (probably originally circus or carnival argot), probably a shortened form of shillaber (1913) with the same meaning, origin unknown. The verb is attested from 1914.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
shill

noun
1. a decoy who acts as an enthusiastic customer in order to stimulate the participation of others 

verb
1. act as a shill; "The shill bid for the expensive carpet during the auction in order to drive the price up" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Shill

Shill\, v. t. To shell. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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