Episode 156: Beggars, Cheats and Thieves
The History of English Podcast
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The Meaning of Cheating or Deceiving Some One
In the mid 15 hundreds, pole became another word meaning to rob or steal. The same idea was captured in another term, to fleece. Another slang term for cheating or swindling some one was to rook. If you rooked some one, you advantage of them and stole their money. Some people used the phrase to play the fox in much the same way.
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