hornswoggle

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hornswoggle. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hornswoggle, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hornswoggle in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hornswoggle you have here. The definition of the word hornswoggle will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhornswoggle, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

WOTD – 28 April 2009

Etymology

Unknown, 1829 US,[1] jocular coinage like contemporary absquatulate.[2] Presumably horns + waggle with humorous faux ablaut or combination with wobble (compare later woggle, 1923), perhaps inspired by lassoed steers trying to escape by moving their head.[3][2]

Pronunciation

Verb

hornswoggle (third-person singular simple present hornswoggles, present participle hornswoggling, simple past and past participle hornswoggled)

  1. (transitive, slang) To deceive or trick.
    Don't let them hornswoggle you into buying anything you don't need.

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

hornswoggle

  1. (slang) nonsense; humbug

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “hornswoggle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michael Quinion (October 30, 2004) “Hornswoggle”, in World Wide Words.
  3. ^ A Dictionary of the Old West, Peter Watts
  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia