Shark-gull
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A confidence trickster; a person who preys on simpletons. obsolete
"Complainest thou of bad doings, when there are harlots of all trades, and knaves of all languages? Knowest thou not that sin may be committed either in French, Dutch, Italian, or Spanish, and all after the English fashion? But thou excusest the negligence of thy practice by the last summer's pestilence: alas, poor shark-gull, that put-off is idle! for sergeant Carbuncle, one of the plague's chief officers, dares not venture within three yards of an harlot, because monsieur Drybone, the Frenchman, is a leiger before him."
Example
More examples"Complainest thou of bad doings, when there are harlots of all trades, and knaves of all languages? Knowest thou not that sin may be committed either in French, Dutch, Italian, or Spanish, and all after the English fashion? But thou excusest the negligence of thy practice by the last summer's pestilence: alas, poor shark-gull, that put-off is idle! for sergeant Carbuncle, one of the plague's chief officers, dares not venture within three yards of an harlot, because monsieur Drybone, the Frenchman, is a leiger before him."
Etymology
From shark (“to swindle; to trick”) + gull (“dupe; mark; sucker”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.