Dictionary.com
definitions

hoodwink

[hood-wingk]
See more synonyms for hoodwink on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to deceive or trick.
  2. Archaic. to blindfold.
  3. Obsolete. to cover or hide.

Origin of hoodwink

First recorded in 1555–65; hood1 + wink1
Related formshood·wink·a·ble, adjectivehood·wink·er, nounun·hood·winked, adjective

Synonyms for hoodwink

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
1. dupe, cheat, swindle, gyp.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hoodwink

mislead, bilk, dupe, bamboozle, victimize, defraud, swindle, fool, hoax, fleece, burn, scam, screw, cheat, fake, gull, trick, bluff, gyp, con

Examples from the Web for hoodwink

Contemporary Examples of hoodwink

Historical Examples of hoodwink

  • You may find some better place for it--but then you haven't a maid to hoodwink.

    Nobody

    Louis Joseph Vance

  • They contrived no clever devices to hoodwink our moral nature.

    Creative Unity

    Rabindranath Tagore

  • Michael was so observant, so clear-sighted, that it was impossible to hoodwink him.

    Lover or Friend

    Rosa Nouchette Carey

  • It is used by abolitionists to hoodwink and deceive the conscience.

  • Or you want me to wear the blinkers, the better to hoodwink your own eyes.

British Dictionary definitions for hoodwink

hoodwink

verb (tr)
  1. to dupe; trick
  2. obsolete to cover or hide
Derived Formshoodwinker, noun

Word Origin for hoodwink

C16: originally, to cover the eyes with a hood, blindfold
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
Word Origin and History for hoodwink
v.

1560s, "to blindfold," from hood (n.1) + wink; figurative sense of "mislead, deceive" is c.1600. Related: Hoodwinked; hoodwinking.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper