hoodwink

[ hood-wingk ]

verb (used with object)

1. to deceive or trick.

   Synonyms: gyp, swindle, cheat, dupe

2. Archaic. to blindfold.
3. Obsolete. to cover or hide.

hoodwink

/ ˈhʊdˌwɪŋk /

verb

1. to dupe; trick
2. obsolete.
   to cover or hide

Derived Forms

• ˈhoodˌwinker, noun

Other Words From

• hood·wink·a·ble adjective
• hood·wink·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoodwink¹

First recorded in 1555–65; hood ¹ + wink ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoodwink¹

C16: originally, to cover the eyes with a hood, blindfold

Example Sentences

Or when he said the Clinton camp was trying to “bamboozle” or “hoodwink” voters?

From The Daily Beast

From blueberry-free blueberry muffins to nutty cereals with no nuts, how foodmakers hoodwink their customers.

From The Daily Beast

Madame de la Baudraye would have to hoodwink her mother, her husband, her maid, and her mother's maid; that is too much to do.

From Project Gutenberg

His whole policy in fact was but a miserable attempt to hoodwink the Spanish people.

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing, of course, and so the all-important point was to hoodwink the British commander.

From Project Gutenberg

The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made to hoodwink the English public.

From Project Gutenberg

It was as though he had detected them in a sort of childs play by which they had hoped to hoodwink him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bamboozle
• bilk
• defraud
• dupe
• mislead
• swindle
• victimize