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Shyster
Definitions
- 1 Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
"True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night."
- 2 a person (especially a lawyer or politician) who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods wordnet
- 1 To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics. intransitive
- 2 To exploit (someone or something) in this way. transitive
Etymology
US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
See also for "shyster"
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