Tricks or cheats someone into giving up money or property through dishonest means.
Third-person singular present tense of 'defraud,' from Old French defrauder, combining de- (away from) and fraud. The root traces to Latin fraudare, meaning to cheat or deceive.
The word 'defraud' gained popularity during the Industrial Revolution when complex financial schemes became common enough that English needed a specific legal term to describe them.
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