shyster
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
shyster (plural shysters)
- Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
- Synonym: pettifogger
- 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 4, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:
- True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.
- 1981, Blake Edwards, S.O.B. (motion picture), spoken by Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston):
- I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way
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Verb[edit]
shyster (third-person singular simple present shysters, present participle shystering, simple past and past participle shystered)
- (intransitive) To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
- (transitive) To exploit (someone or something) in this way.
References[edit]
- “shyster”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- Jonathon Green (2024) “shyster n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
- Eric Partridge (2005) “shyster”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1746.
- Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Shyster”, in World Wide Words.
Anagrams[edit]
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