swindle

Meanings

1. To defraud.
2. To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.
3. For a player in a losing position to play a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.

1. An instance of swindling.
2. Anything that is deceptively not what it appears to be.
3. An instance wherein a player in a losing position plays a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.

1. A surname.

Etymology

Back-formation from swindler, from German Schwindler, from German schwindeln, from Middle High German swindeln, swindelen, from Old High German swintilōn, frequentative of the verb swintan, from Proto-West Germanic *swindan (“to diminish”). See also Modern German schwindeln, Danish svindel and svindle, Dutch zwindelen and zwendelen, Yiddish שווינדל (shvindl), Low German swinneln, Middle English swinden (“to languish, waste away”).