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shyster. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
shyster, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
shyster in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
shyster you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
Pronunciation
Noun
shyster (plural shysters)
- Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
- Synonym: pettifogger
1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 4, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.
1973, Lucas Webb, Stribling, page 188:The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.
1981, Blake Edwards, S.O.B. (motion picture), spoken by Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston):I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.
Derived terms
Translations
someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way
Verb
shyster (third-person singular simple present shysters, present participle shystering, simple past and past participle shystered)
- (intransitive) To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
- (transitive) To exploit (someone or something) in this way.
References
- “shyster”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “shyster n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
- Eric Partridge (2005) “shyster”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1746.
- Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Shyster”, in World Wide Words.
Anagrams