grift

A confidence game or swindle.

Noun

  1. A confidence game or swindle.
    • Hey, what's the grift? What are you trying to pull?
    • ‘Sounds like he’s trying to stretch out his grift for as long as possible,’ Gentle said. ‘Taking as much from his followers as he can before it falls apart.’ - 2022, Paul McAuley, Beyond the Burn Line, Gollancz, page...

    Synonyms: deception deceit dupery fiddle fetch hocus-pocus jugglery legerdemain list mislead prestidigitation Punic faith rinky-dink ruse sleight of hand subterfuge swack trickery

Origin

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”).

Forms

grifts

Derived

griftable grifter shopgrift

Verb

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

Forms

grifts grifting grifted