Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of one who cons or pores over a lesson.
  • noun The act or art of directing a helms-man in steering or piloting a vessel.
  • An obsolete form of cunning.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of con.
  • verb Present participle of conn.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Ret-conning is probably inevitable in any type of franchise where there is more than one author/artist.

    A Few More Last Words grrm 2010

  • (The site has now grown to some 20,000 registered members, and Berry estimates that about 10 percent of them are actively engaged in conning the con artists.)

    How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood 2007

  • (The site has now grown to some 20,000 registered members, and Berry estimates that about 10 percent of them are actively engaged in conning the con artists.)

    How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood 2007

  • (The site has now grown to some 20,000 registered members, and Berry estimates that about 10 percent of them are actively engaged in conning the con artists.)

    How To Trick an Online Scammer Into Carving a Computer Out of Wood 2007

  • The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a pious, silly man, who spent his time in conning over the traditions of Mahommed, with averted face made the first sword-cut, and then the Under-Secretary of State and clerks of the Foreign-Office hewed their victim into pieces.

    Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia 1856

  • Smith insisted he didn't care about making any more money but the principle was paramount; he was furious at the idea of a major label conning him out of making the record he wanted.

    Music news, reviews, comment and features | guardian.co.uk 2008

  • Early though it is, the Senator has already been up and dressed over an hour; and he has spent the time unprofitably, in glancing over his diary of two years ago, in conning, that is, the record of that strange, exciting fortnight which so changed his own and his children's lives.

    The End of Her Honeymoon Marie Belloc Lowndes 1907

  • Just "conning" you cons, these two are my favorite girls!

    Palin, Bachmann to headline Tea Party convention 2009

  • He slammed the ANC for its "sleight-of-hand" politics, accused that organisation of "conning" and attempting to marginalise the Zulu nation, and of fanning violence to strengthen its argument for a speedy move to elections.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1993

  • I was "conning" the schooner when this insane scheme was broached, and fearing that the captain might adopt it, I leaped on the hatch, after calling the boatswain to my place, and assured the crew that if they severed the sail, we would lose command of the vessel, so that with impaired headway, the next wave that struck her would show her keel to the skies and her dock to the fishes.

    Captain Canot or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver Theodore Canot

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