shill
a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.
a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.
to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.
to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner of a huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.
Origin of shill
1Words Nearby shill
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use shill in a sentence
When I sip my half-frozen beer on Pat’s porch as the sun sinks, I wonder if the ski bums of the future will all be trust-fund babies, corporate shills, and weed dealers.
Beyond that, there’s more minor threats such as “Oh, I’ll report you” or “Oh, soon you will be revealed and exposed as a shill.”
Meet three moderators fighting disinformation on Reddit’s largest coronavirus forum | Anushree Dave | May 4, 2021 | Science NewsHe became as polarizing a figure as the war itself, court jester to Nixon and corporate shill to boot.
Professional bloggers essentially get paid to shill the clothes they like and travel the world—to be influencers.
Tavi Gevinson: From Teen Fashion Queen to Broadway Star | Arabelle Sicardi | July 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe is also quite happy to shill for garcinia cambogia, which he calls the “newest, fastest fat-buster.”
Yet his sincerity leads him to channel Kremlin propaganda as effectively as any paid shill.
Meet Stephen F. Cohen, Vladimir Putin's Best Friend in the American Media | Cathy Young | March 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHaaretz, no Netanyahu shill, recently publicized a poll reflecting the Israeli consensus belief in a two-state solution.
As Tom Scales led the horse away to the stables it turned its head towards its master with a short, shill neigh.
Madam Crowl's Ghost and The Dead Sexton | Joseph Sheridan LeFanuHe's a cowardly scoundrel, but he shill hev far play, or my name ain't Jake Larkin!'
He's a-driftin' out'n de riber, ole Mist; shill I run and tell his folks when I puts der biscuits in de oben?
The Actress' Daughter | May Agnes Fleming“Ye shill hab it, honey,” said the woman, giving him some from a bucket she had set on the ground.
Our Young Folks, Vol 1, No. 1 | VariousAnd six makes twenty-eight pounds, four shill——What do you want in here?
Old Scrooge: A Christmas Carol in Five Staves. | Charles A. Scott
British Dictionary definitions for shill
/ (ʃɪl) /
slang a confidence trickster's assistant, esp a person who poses as an ordinary customer, gambler, etc, in order to entice others to participate
Origin of shill
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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