shill
Americannoun
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a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
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a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
Usage
What does shill mean? A shill is a person who praises or promotes something because they secretly have a personal stake in it.
Etymology
Origin of shill
First recorded in 1920–25; origin uncertain
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 they were anything but shills and dupes.
She was broke, and trying to raise a baby, while working as a shill at a dice-and-poker house in El Monte.
From Los Angeles Times
She appeared on “Dancing with the Stars,” starred in a Broadway revival of “Chicago,” wrote a best-selling book and shilled for major brands such as Bic, Glad and Chili’s in self-referential commercials.
From Los Angeles Times
In contrast to the warmly interconnected townsfolk we first met, these wage shills, who open up to each other in a long car ride, lead pinched, lonely, unrealized lives.
From Los Angeles Times
Hearing what people outside of the paid shills have to say was, all reports suggest, very upsetting for the former president.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
