▪ I. cheater
(ˈtʃiːtə(r))
Forms: 4 cheitur, 5 chetowre, 6 chetor, 6–7 cheatour, 7 cheator, 6– cheater.
[ME. chetour, aphetic f. achetour, eschetour, escheator.]
† 1. a. The officer appointed to look after the king's escheats; an escheator. (The 17th c. quots. show its passage into the later sense.) Obs.
| c 1330 Pol. Songs (1839) 338 At justices, at shirreves, cheiturs, and chaunceler. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 73 Chetowre, confiscator, caducarius. 1651 Jer. Taylor Holy Living, Restit. §13 Cheaters of men's inheritances, unjust judges, etc. 1656 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. II. 201 As a Cheater may pick the purses of innocent people, by showing them something like the Kings broad seal, which was his own forgery. |
† b. fig. Obs.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. i. 111, I play'd the Cheater for thy Fathers hand. 1598 ― Merry W. i. iii. 77, I will be Cheaters to them both, and they shall bee Exchequers to mee. 1600 ― Sonn. cli, Then gentle cheater urge not my amisse, Least guilty of my faults thy sweet selfe prove. |
† 2. A dishonest gamester, a sharper. Obs.
| 1532 Dice-Play B iiij, They call theyr worthy arte by a newe found name, callinge themselues Chetors. 1591 Florio Sec. Fruites xii. 169 Milk-maides to daunce, and cheaters to the dice. 1637 Wotton Let. Prof. Reg. Div. Cambr., That Pack of Reverend Cheaters, among whom Religion was shuffled like a pack of Cards, and the Dice were set upon us. |
3. One who cheats or deals fraudulently; a deceiver; a swindler. (A systematic or habitual cheater is now called a cheat.)
| 1607 Dekker Knts. Conjur. (1842) 52 Vnthrifts cheaters and the rest of their faction..were borne downe. 1614 [see cheatee]. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 81 It is the nature of Ambition to make men Lyars and Cheaters. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 134 Hard Texts are Nuts (I will not call them Cheaters). 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, It is the resource of cheaters, knaves, and cozeners. 1820 Keats Otho Gt. v. v, I was the fool, she was the cheater! 1831–72 [see cheatee]. 1881 Jefferies Wood Magic I. vii. 201 What a cheater he is. |
† 4. tame cheater: ? a decoy duck or other tame animal used as a decoy. Shakes. plays on other senses, and Scott uses it with allusion to Shakespeare's application of it to Pistol.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 105 Hee's no Swaggerer (Hostesse): a tame Cheater, hee: you may stroake him as gently, as a Puppie Greyhound. 1625 Fletcher Fair Maid Inn iv. ii, You..will be drawn into the net by this decoy-duck, this tame cheater. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet let. iii, Sinking from ruffling bullies into tame cheaters. |
5. pl. Spectacles, eye-glasses. U.S. slang.
| 1921 Wodehouse Jill the Reckless ix. 138 A tall guy in tortoiseshell cheaters. 1932 Runyon Guys & Dolls 35 A little guy who wears horn cheaters. 1949 R. Chandler Little Sister ii. 9 The eyes behind the rimless cheaters flashed. |
▪ II. cheater
obs. form of chatter.