English

Verb

chouse ‎(third-person singular simple present chouses, present participle chousing, simple past and past participle choused)

1. (transitive) To cheat, to trick.
   • c. 1824-1829, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, 1853, J. Forster (editor), The Works of Walter Savage Landor, Volume 1, page 29,

     I cannot think otherwise than that the undertaker of the aforecited poesy hath choused your Highness; for I have seen painted, I know not where, the identically same Dian, with full as many nymphs, as he calls them, and more dogs.

   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter IV, page 46:

     They never like you half so well as when you bring your men with you: they don't want officers so much as men; and some of the commands, if they can chouse you out of your recruits, will not stop to do so; and then you may whistle for your commission.

Synonyms

• (cheat): cheat, trick

Noun

chouse ‎(plural chouses)

1. One who is easily cheated; a gullible person.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hudibras to this entry?)

2. A trick; a sham.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

3. A swindler.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Etymology 2

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Alternative forms

• chowse

Verb

chouse ‎(third-person singular simple present chouses, present participle chousing, simple past and past participle choused)

1. (US, of cattle) To handle roughly, as by chasing or scaring.
2. (US, regional) To handle, to take care of.
   • 1980, John R. Erickson, Panhandle Cowboy, page 79,

     This gave the roundup the appearance of a cavalry charge, and a stranger observing the procedure for the first time might have thought we were a bunch of green, possibly drunken cowboys making sport out of chousing cattle. But we weren't chousing them, we were just trying to keep them in sight, and for a very good reason.

3. (transitive, US, regional) To cause undesirable activity in livestock, such as running. [from late 19th c.]
   • 1940 April 9, Owen, John, “[letter to] Paul J. Kilday”, in [Relief of] John Owen, quoted in United States congressional serial set, 76th Congress, 3rd session (January 3, 1940—January 3, 1941), miscellaneous volume 3, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, published 1940-05-24, ISSN 1931-2822, 76th Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Claims, report number 2293, page 12 of report:

     […] but the fact remains that my range cattle, because of the chousing which they received at the hands of the troops and the fright that they had, were caused to go into a period of considerable range deficiency without the flesh with which they should have entered this period.

Translations

References

1. ↑ "chouse." Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. 2008.

• chouse at OneLook Dictionary Search
• chouse in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• chouse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• "chouse" in Walter W. Skeat, ed., An etymological dictionary of the English language, New ed., Oxford: The Clarendon press, 1910. p. 108. OCLC 582746570.
• "chowse" in Stephen Skinner, Thomas Henshaw, ed., Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae (in Latin), London: T. Roycroft, 1671, page unnumbered. OCLC 763714001.

Anagrams

• ouches