cozen
Pronunciation Verb
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Pronunciation Verb
cozen (cozens, present participle cozening; past and past participle cozened)
- (intransitive) To become cozy; (by extension) to become acquainted, comfortable, or familiar with.
- IPA: /ˈkʌzən/
cozen (cozens, present participle cozening; past and past participle cozened)
- (archaic) To cheat; to defraud; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way. [from late 16th c.]
- 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 54-56,
- […] good Vulcan, for Cupids sake that hath cousned us all: befriend us as thou maiest […]
- 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III, Scene 2,
- What devil was't / That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
- ante 1667 Jeremy Taylor, 1851, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Volume 1, page 895 ↗,
- It is certain that children may be cozened into goodness, and sick men to health, and passengers in a storm into safety; and the reason of these is, — because not only the end is fair, and charitable, and just, but the means are such which do no injury to the persons which are to receive benefit; […] .
- 1866, Spoils, By a Receiver, Charles Chauncey Burr (editor), The Old Guard: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Principles of 1776 and 1787, Volume 4, page 497 ↗,
- The man, too, who has been matrimonially cozened, "would all the world might be cozened," for he has been cozened, and beaten too; but with him the cudgel is "hallowed;" he would "hang it o'er the altar;" perhaps for the reason given by the "Merry Wives of Windsor," because "it hath done meritorious service;" and no sooner is he, by a seemingly merciful disposition of Providence, released from the cudgeler, but he is in haste to be cozened and beaten again.
- 1914, Rafael Sabatini, The Gates of Doom, 2001, page 217 ↗,
- But that you should have been cozened with me, that my cozening should in part have been a natural sequel to your own, rather than an independent error of mine, is a helpful reflection to me in this dark hour.
- Synonyms: beguile
- 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 54-56,
- Russian: надува́ть
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002