cahoots

English

WOTD – 7 July 2024

Etymology

PIE word
*ḱóm

From earlier cahoot +‎ -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns). Cahoot is probably borrowed:^[1]

from French cahute (“hut, shack”), from Dutch kajuit (“cabin on a ship”), from Middle Low German kajüte, probably from Middle Dutch kayhute; further etymology uncertain, possibly borrowed from Old French *cahute, chahute (whence Middle French quahute), a blend of cabane (“cabin, hut, shack”) + hute (“hut”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to conceal, hide; to cover; hide, skin”)); or
from French cohorte (“group of people supporting the same person or thing, cohort”), from Latin cohors (“cohort; crowd”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”) + *ǵʰer- (“to enclose”) (and if so, a doublet of cohort).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) enPR: kə-ho͞otsʹ, IPA^(key): /kəˈhuːts/
(General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈhuts/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -uːts
Hyphenation: ca‧hoots

Noun

cahoots pl (normally plural, singular cahoot) (originally US)

Chiefly preceded by in: collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason.
Synonym: (uncommon) cahoot

Those two are definitely in cahoots.
- 1843 November 8, “Letters from the South-west—No. 1”, in H. A. Graves, editor, Christian Reflector: A Religious and Family Newspaper, volume VI, number 45 (number 279 overall), Boston, Mass.: William S Damrell, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 2:
  There was no stage on the road, and no vehicle in the place except these mighty wagons. Accordingly I struck a bargain with a wagoner, who took my baggage. 'You may go with me,' said he, 'but may-be you can't go cahoots with me in my eatin' fixin's, stranger.'
- 1888, Bret Harte, “Uncle Jim and Uncle Billy”, in Stories in Light and Shadow; The Argonauts of North Liberty (The Works of Bret Harte; XIII), Argonaut edition, New York, N.Y.: P F Collier & Son, →OCLC, page 65:
  Like as not, Uncle Billy is still in ‘cahoots’ [i.e., shares] with his old pard, and is just laughin’ at us as he’s sendin’ him accounts of our tomfoolin’.
- 1926 August 21, Henry C. Rowland, “Twin Propellers. Chapter XI.”, in George Horace Lorimer, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 199, number 8, Philadelphia, Pa., London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51, column 2:
  […] I suspected him of being in cahoots with the steward, who got the lights doused long enough for the pearls to be stolen.
- 1928 March, “Trouble in Guaduragua”, in The North American Review, volume CCXXV, number 841, New York, N.Y.: North American Review Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 371–372:
  Now it came to pass that the President of the Republic of Guaduragua was suspected of being in cahoots with a Juju society, of consulting astrologers, and of being under the undue influence of a designing woman; whereupon the Guaduraguan Parliament thought it well to investigate the matter, and came together on its own initiative for that purpose. […] t was not in Guaduragua at all that the comedy was enacted, but in one of the Sovereign Commonwealths of the United States of America.
- 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A Knopf, →ISBN, page 74:
  They probably give it back to him; they're all in cahoots.
- 2005, Steven D Levitt, Stephen J Dubner, “How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-estate Agents? In which is Argued that Nothing is More Powerful than Information, Especially when Its Power is Abused”, in Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN, page 58:
  The Klan was in cahoots with political, business, and law-enforcement leaders.
- 2022 June 6, A O Scott, “Critic’s notebook: Are the movies liberal?”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-17:
  sense of grievance and victimization has come to permeate the modern conservative identity. […] In this account, Hollywood acts in functional cahoots with academia and the news media, and what drives the populism of Republican politicians like Ron DeSantis in Florida and J[ames] D[avid] Vance in Ohio is full-throated opposition to those institutions.
(uncommon) plural of cahoot (“a company or partnership; a group of people working together, chiefly for a nefarious reason, hence, a collaboration or collusion; an accomplice, partner”)