cheat

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English chete, an aphetic form of eschete (“escheat, the reversion of property to the state if there are no legal claimants”). More at escheat.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

cheat (third-person singular simple present cheats, present participle cheating, simple past and past participle cheated)

  1. (intransitive) To violate rules in order to gain advantage from a situation.
    My brother flunked biology because he cheated on his mid-term.
  2. (intransitive) To be unfaithful to one's spouse or partner.
    My husband cheated on me with his secretary.
  3. (transitive) To manage to avoid something even though it seemed unlikely.
    He cheated death when his car collided with a moving train.
    I feel as if I've cheated fate.
  4. (transitive) To deceive; to fool; to trick.
    My ex-wife cheated me out of $40,000.
    He cheated his way into office.
    • Shakespeare
      I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island.
  5. To beguile.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
    • Washington Irving
      to cheat winter of its dreariness

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Noun[edit]

cheat (plural cheats)

  1. Someone who cheats (informal: cheater).
  2. An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture.
    • Dryden
      When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat.
  3. The weed cheatgrass.
  4. A card game where the goal is to have no cards remaining in a hand, often by telling lies.
  5. A hidden means of gaining an unfair advantage in a computer game, often by entering a cheat code.

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