▪ I. cozening, vbl. n.
(ˈkʌz(ə)nɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. cozen; cheating, fraudulent dealing; an imposture.
| 1576 Fleming Caius' Eng. Dogges (1880) 27 With colourable shifts and cloudy cossening. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. 43 Not..true bodies..meere illusions and cozenings. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour III. 141 The mysteries of over-reaching and cozening. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 34 By plundering, oppression, cosening. |
▪ II. ˈcozening, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That cozens; cheating, deceitful, fraudulent.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 54 By which kind of theft, (for this coosoning shift is no better) they rake in great somes of mony. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. viii. 133 The..gulling of them with delusions and cousening devices. 1753 Foote Eng. in Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 33 The traders here are a..cozening people. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 182 A great stronghold Unto the cozening gods of old. |
Hence † ˈcozeningly adv., in a cozening manner.
| 1611 Cotgr., Pipeusement, deceitfully,..couseningly. |