hornswoggle

English

WOTD – 28 April 2009

Etymology

Unknown, 1829 US,[1] jocular coinage like contemporary absquatulate.[2] Presumably horns + waggle with humorous faux ablaut or combination with wobble (compare later woggle, 1923), perhaps inspired by lassoed steers trying to escape by moving their head.[3][2]

Pronunciation

Verb

hornswoggle (third-person singular simple present hornswoggles, present participle hornswoggling, simple past and past participle hornswoggled)

  1. (transitive) To deceive or trick.
    Don't let them hornswoggle you into buying anything you don't need.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

  • woggle
  • Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

References

  1. ↑ “hornswoggle” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.
  2. 1 2 “Hornswoggle” in Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, 30 October 2004.
  3. ↑ A Dictionary of the Old West, Peter Watts
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