cumshaw

American

[kuhm-shaw] / ˈkʌm ʃɔ /

noun

a present; gratuity; tip.

cumshaw British

/ ˈkʌmʃɔː /

noun

(used, esp formerly, by beggars in Chinese ports) a present or tip

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cumshaw

1810–20; < dialectal Chinese (Xiamen) kam siā, equivalent to Chinese gân xiè grateful thanks

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Yet Senior Chief Petty Officer Bernard G. Feddersen, 35, of the Seabees, is renowned from Danang to the Delta as the sharpest cumshaw artist in all Southeast Asia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Fellow Manchurians whispered that he had been dismissed for failure to produce a fur coat as cumshaw for a certain superior.

From Time Magazine Archive

He also throws in plenty of "snivel"�the cumshaw artist's constant con talk.

From Time Magazine Archive

Almost unconsciously he adopts the popular attitude just as he enlarges his vocabulary to include "pidgin English" and such unfamiliar phrases as "tiffin," "bund" and "cumshaw."

From Camps and Trails in China A Narrative of Exploration, Adventure, and Sport in Little-Known China by Andrews, Roy Chapman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023