cheat

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To break the rules in order to gain an unfair advantage.

   He was caught cheating during the final exam.

2. 2
   verb

   To trick or deceive someone, especially to get money from them.

   The salesman cheated her out of hundreds of dollars.

3. 3
   verb

   To be unfaithful to one's husband, wife, or partner.

   She left him after she found out he had cheated on her.

4. 4
   noun

   A person who breaks the rules or deceives others.

   Nobody wants to play cards with a cheat.

Multiword verbs with cheat

• cheat on Prepositional verb B1

  to have a sexual relationship with someone other than one's partner

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cheat began as a shortening of escheat, the legal reversion of property to the state when an owner died without heirs. It broadened from “confiscate” to “deprive unfairly” in the 16th century and then developed its familiar senses involving deception or gaining an advantage by breaking rules.

Verb from Middle English achetan, variant of escheten, from Old French escheat, past participle of escheoir, escheoiter, from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin) ex- + cadere (“fall”). Displaced native Old English beswīcan. Noun from verb and/or Middle English chete, aphetic form of achete, escheat, eschete (“the reversion of property to the state”), from Anglo-Norman eschete and Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit (“that which falls to one”), past participle of escheoir (“to fall”) (modern French échoir), from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin)…

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External links

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