cheat Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun weedy annual grass often occurs in grainfields and other cultivated land; seeds sometimes considered poisonous
    darnel; bearded darnel; Lolium temulentum; tare.
  2. noun weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat
    Bromus secalinus; chess.
  3. noun someone who leads you to believe something that is not true
    slicker; trickster; beguiler; deceiver; cheater.
  4. noun the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme
    rig; swindle.
    • that book is a fraud
  5. noun a deception for profit to yourself
    cheating.
  6. verb deprive somebody of something by deceit
    rip off; chisel.
    • The con-man beat me out of $50
    • This salesman ripped us off!
    • we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme
    • They chiseled me out of my money
  7. verb defeat someone through trickery or deceit
    shaft; chouse; chicane; screw; jockey.
  8. verb engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud
    chisel.
    • Who's chiseling on the side?
  9. verb be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
    cuckold; cheat on; betray; wander.
    • She cheats on her husband
    • Might her husband be wandering?

WordNet

Cheat noun
Etymology
rob. an abbrevation 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; the meaning being explained by the frauds, real or supposed, that were resorted to in procuring escheats. See Escheat.
Definitions
  1. An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture.
    When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat. Dryden.
  2. One who cheats or deceives; an impostor; a deceiver; a cheater.
    Airy wonders, which cheats interpret. Johnson
  3. (Bot.) A troublesome grass, growing as a weed in grain fields; -- called also chess. See Chess.
  4. (Law) The obtaining of property from another by an intentional active distortion of the truth. ✍ When cheats are effected by deceitful or illegal symbols or tokens which may affect the public at large and against which common prudence could not have guarded, they are indictable at common law. Wharton. Syn. -- Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion; artifice; trick; swindle; deceit; guile; finesse; stratagem.
Cheat transitive verb
Etymology
See CHeat, n., Escheat.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cheated; present participle & verbal noun Cheating
Definitions
  1. To deceive and defraud; to impose upon; to trick; to swindle.
    I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island. Shak.
  2. To beguile. Sir W. Scott.
    To cheat winter of its dreariness. W. Irving.
    Syn. -- To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach; delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle.
Cheat intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To practice fraud or trickery; as, to cheat at cards.
Cheat noun
Etymology
Perh. from OF. cheté goods, chattels.
Definitions
  1. Wheat, or bread made from wheat. Obs. Drayton.
    Their purest cheat, Thrice bolted, kneaded, and subdued in paste. Chapman.

Webster 1913