cozener


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coz·en

 (kŭz′ən)
v. coz·ened, coz·en·ing, coz·ens
v.tr.
1. To mislead by means of a petty trick or fraud; deceive.
2. To persuade or induce to do something by cajoling or wheedling.
3. To obtain by deceit or persuasion.
v.intr.
To act deceitfully.

[Probably ultimately (perhaps via Middle English cosin, fraud, trickery) from Old French cosson, middleman, trader, or obsolete Italian cozzonare, to cheat (from Italian cozzone, horse-trader), both ultimately from Latin cōciō, coctiō, dealer, perhaps of Etruscan origin.]

coz′en·er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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cozener

noun
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Verily, ye fill your mouth with noble words: and we are to believe that your heart overfloweth, ye cozeners?
The usurer hangs the cozener' (King Lear 4.6.148-50, 159).
(106) Yet this is not the random misappropriation of the cozener; rather, it constitutes an act of violence against the line.