Word of the Day

: November 15, 2006

cozen

verb KUZ-un

What It Means

1 : to deceive, win over, or induce to do something by artful coaxing and wheedling or shrewd trickery

2 : to gain by artful coaxing or tricky deception

cozen in Context

Five-year-old Mimi managed to cozen a second helping of dessert from her guileless grandmother.

Did You Know?

"Be not utterly deceived (or to speak in plainer terms, cozened at their hands)." Denouncing the evils of the times, 16th-century Puritan pamphleteer Philip Stubbes thus warned against unscrupulous merchants. "Cozen" may not seem a "plainer term" to us, but it might have to the horse-dependent folks of the 16th century. Some linguists have theorized that "cozen" traces to the Italian noun "cozzone," which means "horse trader." Horse-trading, as in the actual swapping of horses, usually involved bargaining and compromise-and, in fact, the term "horse-trading" has come to suggest any shrewd negotiation. It seems safe to assume that not all of these negotiations were entirely on the up-and-up. Given its etymological association with horse traders, therefore, it's not too surprising that "cozen" suggests deception and fraud.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.