Third person singular present tense of chouse; means to cheat or swindle someone out of money or goods.
From chouse, possibly derived from Turkish çauş (messenger or officer), which entered English in the 17th century. The word took on a deceptive meaning, possibly because Turkish messengers were perceived as untrustworthy by English traders.
This word captures a specific moment in English history when the Ottoman Empire fascinated and unsettled Europeans—they borrowed the word for a Turkish official and immediately turned it into slang for a con artist, revealing their suspicions about cross-cultural trade!
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