HORNSWOGGLE NOUN 1. nonsense, foolery, humbug ...Bk1942 US sl. 2. an act of surpassing or confusing; a confidence trick ...1877 US sl. 3. a trickster, a charlatan ...1908 US sl. VERB 1. to embarrass, to disconcert, to confuse ...1829 colloq., orig. US 2. to get the better of; to cheat or trick, to swindle, to deceive; to hoodwink, to humbug, to bamboozle ...1834 colloq., orig. US ETYMOLOGY of unknown origin FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1829 - Hornswoggle, to embarrass irretrievably. From: Virginia Literary Museum and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, etc. EXAMPLE "..."Well, now." said he, "I wish I may be horn swoggled, if ever I thought to live to see the day when I should 'sculp' a Christian man; but there it is, you see; I left h is head as clean as a peeled onion..." From: The Kentuckian in New York; or, The adventures of three Southerns - William Alexander Caruthers
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