swindle

See also: Swindle

English

Etymology

Back-formation from swindler, from German Schwindler, from German schwindeln, from Middle High German swindeln, swindelen, from Old High German swintiln, frequentative of the verb swintan, from Proto-West Germanic *swindan (“to diminish”).

See also Modern German schwindeln, Danish svindel and svindle, Dutch zwindelen and zwendelen, Yiddish שווינדל (shvindl), Low German swinneln, Middle English swinden (“to languish, waste away”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈswɪnd(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndəl

Verb

swindle (third-person singular simple present swindles, present participle swindling, simple past and past participle swindled)

1. (transitive) To defraud.

   The two men swindled the company out of $160,000.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.

   She swindled more than £200 out of me.

3. (chess) for a player in a losing position to play a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deceive
• (to be swindled): be sold a pup (idiomatic, British, Australian)
• (to defraud): swizz (informal, mainly British)

Derived terms

• swindler

Translations

to defraud someone

• Afrikaans: afsettery
• Arabic: غَشَّ (ar) (ḡašša), جَدَعَ (ar) (jadaʕa)
• Bulgarian: измамвам (bg) (izmamvam)
• Catalan: estafar (ca), enganyar (ca), ensarronar (ca), engalipar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詐取／诈取 (zh) (zhàqǔ), 騙取／骗取 (zh) (piànqǔ), 騙局／骗局 (zh) (piànjú)

• Dutch: oplichten (nl), zwendelen (nl)
• Esperanto: trompi
• Finnish: huijata (fi)
• French: escroquer (fr), entourlouper (fr)
• Galician: enfoumar (gl)
• German: betrügen (de) (with um), beschwindeln (de) (with um), erschwindeln (de) (with von)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍉𐌽 (bifaihōn)
• Greek:

  Ancient: φενακίζω (phenakízō)

• Hebrew: הוֹנָה (he) (honá)
• Hungarian: becsap (hu), átver (hu), rászed (hu)
• Icelandic: svindla á
• Ido: eskrokar (io)
• Indonesian: menipu (id), mengecoh (id)
• Italian: truffare (it), bidonare (it), defraudare (it), turlupinare (it), circuire (it), fregare (it)
• Japanese: 騙す (ja) (damasu), 欺く (ja) (azamuku)
• Javanese: nyolong (jv)
• Latin: fraudō
• Malay: tipu (ms)
• Maori: whakateke
• Nepali: छक्याउनु (chakyāunu)
• Norman: rouôler, frauduler
• Polish: szwindlować
• Portuguese: fraudar (pt)
• Quechua: ch'achuy
• Romanian: înșela (ro)
• Russian: обма́нывать (ru) impf (obmányvatʹ), обману́ть (ru) pf (obmanútʹ), моше́нничать (ru) impf (mošénničatʹ), жу́льничать (ru) impf (žúlʹničatʹ), (colloquial) надува́ть (ru) impf (naduvátʹ), наду́ть (ru) pf (nadútʹ)
• Spanish: estafar (es), timar (es), tangar (es) (colloquial), petardear (es), dársela con queso (es)
• Swedish: svindla (sv), bedra (sv)
• Thai: โกง (th) (gohng), คดโกง (th) (kót gohng)
• Turkish: dolandırmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: lừa đảo (vi)
• Yiddish: באַשווינדלען (bashvindlen), אָפּנאַרן (opnarn)

to obtain money or property by fraudulent or deceitful methods

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: غَشَّ (ar) (ḡašša), جَدَعَ (ar) (jadaʕa)
• Catalan: estafar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 欺騙／欺骗 (hei⁴ pin³)

  Mandarin: 欺騙／欺骗 (zh) (qīpiàn)

• Dutch: frauderen (nl)
• Finnish: huijata (fi)
• French: entourlouper (fr), escroquer (fr)
• German: schwindeln (de)
• Hungarian: kicsal (hu)
• Icelandic: svindla (is)
• Indonesian: menipu (id)
• Italian: raggirare (it), truffare (it)
• Japanese: 騙る (ja) (kataru), 騙取する (ja) (henshu suru)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: tipu (ms)
• Maori: muremure
• Portuguese: trapacear (pt)
• Russian: обма́нывать (ru) impf (obmányvatʹ), обману́ть (ru) pf (obmanútʹ)
• Spanish: estafar (es), petardear (es), trampear (es), timar (es)
• Swedish: svindla (sv)
• Thai: โกง (th) (gohng), คดโกง (th) (kót gohng)
• Turkish: söğüşlemek (tr), dolandırmak (tr), yolmak (tr) (slang)
• Vietnamese: lừa đảo (vi), lừa tiền

Noun

swindle (plural swindles)

1. An instance of swindling.
   • 1935, G. K. Chesterton, The Scandal of Father Brown:

     [T]he scandal was the pretty common one of a corrupt agreement between hotel proprietors and a salesman who took and gave secret commissions, so that his business had a monopoly of all the drink sold in the place. It wasn't even an open slavery like an ordinary tied house; it was a swindle at the expense of everybody the manager was supposed to serve.

2. Anything that is deceptively not what it appears to be.
3. (chess) An instance wherein a player in a losing position plays a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:deception
• scheme
• swizz (informal, mainly British)

Derived terms

• swindle sheet

 

Translations

an instance of swindling

• Azerbaijani: dələduzluq
• Bulgarian: измама (bg) f (izmama)
• Catalan: estafa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 欺詐／欺诈 (zh) (qīzhà)

• Czech: švindl (cs) m
• Dutch: zwendel (nl) m
• Esperanto: trompo
• Finnish: huijaus (fi)
• French: escroquerie (fr) f, entourloupe (fr)
• German: Schwindel (de) m
• Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti)
• Hungarian: csalás (hu), becsapás (hu), szélhámosság (hu), átverés (hu), svindli (hu)
• Icelandic: svindl (is) n, svik (is) n
• Italian: frode (it) f, raggiro (it) m, imbroglio (it) m
• Japanese: 詐欺 (ja) (sagi)
• Kabuverdianu: kanbalaxu
• Malay: penipuan
• Maori: hara taware
• Norman: chiffonnage m
• Plautdietsch: Schwindel m
• Portuguese: fraude (pt) f
• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán), жу́льничество (ru) n (žúlʹničestvo), моше́нничество (ru) n (mošénničestvo)
• Spanish: timo (es) m, estafa (es) m, pufo, engañabobos (es), engañifa, socaliña (es)
• Swedish: svindel (sv), bedrägeri (sv)
• Yiddish: שווינדל m (shvindl)

Anagrams

• Windles, wildens, windles