imposition, imposture; fraud, deceit, guile; fraudulence, fraudulency†;
covin†; knavery &c (cunning) 702; misrepresentation &c (falsehood) 544;
bluff; straw-bail, straw bid [U.S.]; spoof [Slang].
delusion, gullery†; juggling, jugglery†; slight of hand,
legerdemain; prestigiation†, prestidigitation; magic &c 992; conjuring,
conjuration; hocus-pocus, escamoterie†, jockeyship†; trickery, coggery†,
chicanery; supercherie†, cozenage†, circumvention, ingannation†,
collusion; treachery &c 940; practical joke.
trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch,
chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck,
loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing
from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon
travelers; stratagem &c (artifice) 702; confidence trick, fake, hoax;
theft &c 791; ballot-box stuffing [U.S.], barney [Slang]; brace game
[Slang], bunko game, drop game [Slang], gum game [U.S.], panel game
[U.S.], shell game, thimblerig, skin game [U.S.].
snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin; springe†, springle†; noose, hoot;
bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens; cobweb,
net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime; dionaea†, Venus's flytrap†;
ambush &c 530; trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom; spring-net,
spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery; mine; flytrap†; green
goods [U.S.]; panel house.
Cornish hug; wolf in sheep's clothing &c (deceiver) 548; disguise,
disguisement†; false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes;
pattes de velours [Fr.].
mockery &c (imitation) 19; copy &c 21; counterfeit, sham, make-
believe, forgery, fraud; lie &c 546; a delusion a mockery and a snare
[Denman], hollow mockery.
whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher; tinsel; paste, junk jewelry,
costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels; scagliola†, ormolu,
German silver, albata†, paktong†, white metal, Britannia metal, paint;
veneer; jerry building; man of straw.
illusion &c (error) 495; ignis fatuus &c 423 [Lat.]; mirage &c
443.
V. deceive, take in; defraud, cheat, jockey, do, cozen, diddle, nab,
chouse, play one false, bilk, cully†, jilt, bite, pluck, swindle,
victimize; abuse; mystify; blind one's eyes; blindfold, hoodwink; throw
dust into the eyes; dupe, gull, hoax, fool, befool†, bamboozle,
flimflam, hornswoggle; trick.
impose upon, practice upon, play upon, put upon, palm off on, palm
upon, foist upon; snatch a verdict; bluff off, bluff; bunko, four flush
[Slang], gum [U.S.], spoof [Slang], stuff (a ballot box) [U.S.].
circumvent, overreach; outreach, out wit, out maneuver; steal a
march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure,
beguile, delude, inveigle; entrap, intrap†, ensnare; nick, springe†; set
a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for; bait the hook, forelay†, spread the
toils, lime; trapan†, trepan; kidnap; let in, hook in; nousle†, nousel†;
blind a trail; enmesh, immesh†; shanghai; catch, catch in a trap;
sniggle, entangle, illaqueate†, hocus, escamoter†, practice on one's
credulity; hum, humbug; gammon, stuff up [Slang], sell; play a trick
upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one,
put one over on; balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale; fool to the top
of one's bent, send on a fool's errand; make game, make a fool of, make
an April fool of†, make an ass of; trifle with, cajole, flatter; come
over &c (influence) 615; gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert,
put a good face upon; dissemble &c 544.
cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck; live by one's
wits, play at hide and seek; obtain money under false pretenses &c
(steal) 791; conjure, juggle, practice chicanery; deacon [U.S.].
play off, palm off, foist off, fob-off.
lie &c 544; misinform &c 538; mislead &c (error) 495; betray &c
940; be deceived &c 547.
Adj. deceived &c v.; deceiving &c; cunning &c 702; prestigious†,
prestigiatory†; deceptive, deceptious†; deceitful, covinous†; delusive,
delusory; illusive, illusory; elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus
[Lat.].
untrue &c 546; mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide
[Slang], pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended,
feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious
bastard; surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated,
sophisticated; unsound, rotten at the core; colorable; disguised;
meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated; catchpenny; Brummagem.
artificial, synthetic, ersatz [G.]; simulated &c 544.
Adv. under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of; over the
left.
Phr. keep the word of promise to the ear and break it to the hope
[Macbeth]; fronti nulla fides [Lat.]; ah that deceit should steal such
gentle shapes [Richard III]; a quicksand of deceit [Henry VI];
decipimur specie recti [Lat.] [Horace]; falsi crimen [Lat.]; fraus est
celare fraudem [Lat.]; lupus in fabula [Lat.]; so smooth, he daubed his
vice with show of virtue [Richard III].