3 entries under this word
[imp. & p. p. CHEATED; p. pr. & vb. n. CHEATING.] [See infra.] To deceive and defraud in any way; to impose upon; to trick.
A sorcerer that, by his cunning, hath cheated me of this island. Shak.
To cheat winter of its dreariness. W. Irving.
Synonyms—To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; impose on; deceive; bamboozle.
n. [Probably an abbreviation of escheat, lands or tenements that fall to a lord or to the state by forfeiture, or by the death of the tenant without heirs, because many fraudulent measures were taken by the lords of manors in procuring escheats. These were also a great source of power and revenue to the early kings of England, and the escheators of the king, from the nature of their office, frequently committed frauds and extortions, so that various acts of parliament were passed to protect the people from them; hence escheat, and its abridgment cheat, were gradually brought to convey a bad meaning; but cf. also A.-S. ceat, circumvention, cheat.]
Sense 1. An act of deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture.
Sense 2. A person who cheats; one guilty of fraud by deceitful practices. “Airy wonders, Which cheats interpret.” Johnson.
Sense 3. (Bot.) A troublesome grass, called also chess or darnel. See CHESS.
Synonyms—Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion; artifice; trick; deceit; imposition; guile; finesse; stratagem.
n. [Probably from Norm. Fr. cheté, Fr. acheté, purchased, bought.] Wheat, or bread made from it. Drayton.
Their purest cheat.
Thrice bolted, kneaded, and subdued in paste. Chapman.
Cheat bread, a kind of wheat bread, considered by some as being of the finest quality; by others, as being of a second quality.