grift

Via Wikitionary:

American criminal underworld slang, 1906 (noun), 1915 (verb), alteration of graft (“corruption, illicit profit through corrupt means, bribe, one's occupation”), alteration perhaps influenced by similar sounding words, e.g. drift, etc., probably ultimately from Middle Dutch graft (“digging, ditch, canal, trench”) (modern Dutch gracht), related to Dutch graven (“to dig”), English grave (“to dig”).[1][2][3]

IPA(key): /ɡɹɪft/

Rhymes: -ɪft

grift (plural grifts)

  1. (US, slang) A confidence game or swindle. [from 1906]quotations ▼Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deception

    Hey, what's the grift? What are you trying to pull?

grift (third-person singular simple present grifts, present participle grifting, simple past and past participle grifted)

  1. (transitive, US, slang) To obtain illegally, as by con game. [from early 20th c.]
  2. (intransitive, US, slang) To obtain money illegally. [from early 20th c.]
  3. (intransitive, US, slang) To obtain money immorally or through deceitful means.

show ▼±to obtain (money) illegally, as by con game

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “grift”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Eric Partridge (1949) A Dictionary of the Underworld, London: Macmillan Co., page 307
  3. ^ Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone, Anatoly Liberman (2009), p. 32

Inherited from Old Swedish _gript_f, _gripter_m. Either a verbal noun related to gräva, or influenced by Latin crypta.

Compare origin of krypta, kryptisk, krypto, grotta, grotesk, grav, gräva, gruva.

griftc

  1. (archaic except in some compounds) a graveSynonym: grav
nominative genitive
singular indefinite grift grifts
definite griften griftens
plural indefinite grifter grifters
definite grifterna grifternas

Source

Table of Contents

English

Etymology

American criminal underworld slang, 1906 (noun), 1915 (verb), alteration of , alteration perhaps influenced by similar sounding words, e.g. , etc., probably ultimately from (modern ), related to , .[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

  1. A confidence game or swindle.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

  1. To obtain illegally, as by con game.
  2. To obtain money illegally.
  3. To obtain money immorally or through deceitful means.

Translations

  • Danish:
  • German:
  • Hungarian:
  • Polish: ,

References

  1. ^
  2. ^
  3. ^ Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone, Anatoly Liberman (2009), p. 32

Swedish

Etymology

, . Either a verbal noun related to , or influenced by .

Compare origin of .

Noun

  1. a grave

Declension

Derived terms

References

view raw grift.wiki hosted with ❤ by GitHub 

==English==

===Etymology===
American criminal underworld slang, 1906 (noun), 1915 (verb), alteration of dbt%7Cnotext%3D1%7Cen%7Cgraft%7Ct1%3Dcorruption%2C%20illicit%20profit%20through%20corrupt%20means%2C%20bribe%2C%20one%27s%20occupation, alteration perhaps influenced by similar sounding words, e.g. m%7Cen%7Cdrift, etc., probably ultimately from der%7Cen%7Cdum%7Cgraft%7Ct%3Ddigging%2C%20ditch%2C%20canal%2C%20trench (modern cog%7Cnl%7Cgracht), related to cog%7Cnl%7Cgraven%7Ct%3Dto%20dig, cog%7Cen%7Cgrave%7Ct%3Dto%20dig.<ref>R%3AOnline%20Etymology%20Dictionary</ref><ref>R%3APartridge%20Underworld%7Cpage%3D307</ref><ref>''Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone'', Anatoly Liberman (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=sMiRc-JFIfMC&pg=PA32&dq=grift p. 32]</ref>

===Pronunciation===
* IPA%7Cen%7C/%C9%A1%C9%B9%C9%AAft/
* audio%7Cen%7CEn-au-grift.ogg%7Ca%3DAU
* rhymes%7Cen%7C%C9%AAft%7Cs%3D1

===Noun===
en-noun

# lb%7Cen%7CUS%7Cslang A [[confidence game]] or [[swindle]]. defdate%7Cfrom%201906
#: syn%7Cen%7CThesaurus%3Adeception
#: ux%7Cen%7CHey%2C%20what%27s%20the%20%27%27%27grift%27%27%27?%20What%20are%20you%20trying%20to%20pull?
#* quote-book%7Cen%7Cyear%3D2022%7Cauthor%3D%5B%5Bw%3APaul%20J.%20McAuley%7CPaul%20McAuley%5D%5D%7Ctitle%3DBeyond%20the%20Burn%20Line%7Cpublisher%3DGollancz%7Cpage%3D172%7Cpassage%3D%E2%80%98Sounds%20like%20he%E2%80%99s%20trying%20to%20stretch%20out%20his%20%27%27%27grift%27%27%27%20for%20as%20long%20as%20possible%2C%E2%80%99%20Gentle%20said.%20%E2%80%98Taking%20as%20much%20from%20his%20followers%20as%20he%20can%20before%20it%20falls%20apart.%E2%80%99

====Derived terms====
* l%7Cen%7Cgrifter

====Translations====
trans-see%7Ccon%20game

===Verb===
en-verb

# lb%7Cen%7Ctransitive%7CUS%7Cslang To obtain illegally, as by [[con game]]. defdate%7Cfrom%20early%2020th%20c.
# lb%7Cen%7Cintransitive%7CUS%7Cslang To obtain money illegally. defdate%7Cfrom%20early%2020th%20c.
# lb%7Cen%7Cintransitive%7CUS%7Cslang To obtain money immorally or through deceitful means.

====Translations====
trans-top%7Cto%20obtain%20%28money%29%20illegally%2C%20as%20by%20con%20game
* Danish: t%7Cda%7Csvindle
* German: t%2B%7Cde%7Cerschwindeln
* Hungarian: t%2B%7Chu%7Ckicsal
* Polish: t%2B%7Cpl%7Cwy%C5%82udza%C4%87%7Cimpf, t%2B%7Cpl%7Cwy%C5%82udzi%C4%87%7Cpf
trans-bottom

===References===
<references/>

==Swedish==

===Etymology===
inh%2B%7Csv%7Cgmq-osw%7Cgript%7Cg%3Df, m%7Cgmq-osw%7Cgripter%7Cg%3Dm. Either a verbal noun related to m%7Csv%7Cgr%C3%A4va, or influenced by cog%7Cla%7Ccrypta.

Compare origin of m%7Csv%7C%5B%5Bkrypta%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bkryptisk%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bkrypto%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bgrotta%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bgrotesk%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bgrav%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bgr%C3%A4va%5D%5D%2C%20%5B%5Bgruva%5D%5D.

===Noun===
sv-noun%7Cc

# lb%7Csv%7Carchaic%7C_%7Cexcept%20in%20some%20compounds a [[grave]]
#: syn%7Csv%7Cgrav

====Declension====
sv-infl-noun-c-er

====Derived terms====
* l%7Csv%7Cgriftefrid
* l%7Csv%7Cgriftetal
* l%7Csv%7Cg%C3%A5nggrift

===References===
* R%3Asvenska.se%7Cso
* R%3Asvenska.se%7Csaol
* R%3Asvenska.se%7Csaob
* R%3Aruneberg.org%7Csvetym%7C0288.html%20grift