flimflam

flimflam
/flim"flam'/, n., v., flimflammed, flimflamming. Informal.
n.
1. a trick or deception, esp. a swindle or confidence game involving skillful persuasion or clever manipulation of the victim.
2. a piece of nonsense; twaddle; bosh.
v.t.
3. to trick, deceive, swindle, or cheat: A fortuneteller flimflammed her out of her savings.
[1530-40; gradational compound of expressive orig.]

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • flimflam — [“flImflAm] 1. n. a confidence trick or deception. □ The whole business sounds like a bit of flimflam to me. □ The crooks pulled a nasty flimflam on Betsy. 2. n. nonsense; deception. □ Beware of the flimflam they will try to pull on you …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • Flimflam — Flim flam, n. [Cf. {Flam}.] A freak; a trick; a lie. Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • flimflam — index bunko, falsification, ruse Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • flimflam — [v] deceive, swindle bilk, burn*, cheat, chisel, con, defraud, diddle*, dupe*, fleece, fool, gip*, gull, gyp*, hose*, pull a fast one*, rip off*, rook*, sandbag, scam, shaft, steal, take for a ride*, trick; concepts 59,139,192 …   New thesaurus

  • flimflam — [flim′flam΄] n. [? redupl. < flam, deceptive trick] 1. nonsense; rubbish; humbug 2. a sly trick or deception vt. flimflammed, flimflamming Informal to trick, swindle, or cheat flimflammery n …   English World dictionary

  • flimflam — UK [ˈflɪmˌflæm] / US noun Word forms flimflam : singular flimflam plural flimflams informal 1) [countable] a plan to steal from or cheat someone 2) [uncountable] nonsense Derived word: flimflam UK / US verb transitive Word forms flimflam :… …   English dictionary

  • flimflam — noun informal 1 (U) stories, information etc that do not seem serious or true: all this psychic flimflam 2 (countable usually singular) a trick intended to cheat someone flimflam verb (T) …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • flimflam — I. noun Etymology: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse flim mockery Date: circa 1570 1. deceptive nonsense 2. deception, fraud II. transitive verb (flimflammed; flimflamming) Date: 1660 to subject to a flimflam • …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • flimflam — flim|flam [ˈflımflæm] n [U] old fashioned informal [Date: 1500 1600; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language] information or ideas that are not true or seem very stupid ▪ I was sick of his intellectual flimflam …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • flimflam — n Informal. nonsense, twaddle, bosh. See nonsense(def.2). 2. trick, deception, humbug, fraud, swindle, Inf. the old army game, confidence game, Sl. con game, Inf. flimflam game, Sl. rip off; pretense, hoax, imposture, artifice. v 3. trick, delude …   A Note on the Style of the synonym finder

  • flimflam artist — n. someone who practices confidence tricks or deceptions on someone else. □ I don’t trust that flimflam artist at all. □ Pretty soon, you’ll learn how to spot a flimflam artist …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

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