con-man n.
1. (US) a flatterer.
![]() | Tales of the Ex-Tanks 139: He was a pretty good con man, and he nailed me for that positively last and final appearance. |
2. (orig. US, also con boy, con guy, con player, con-woman) a confidence trickster [later use is SE].
![]() | Portland Mercury 29 June 1/7: It does not take an unsophisticated countryman to get swindled by the ‘con man’ [DA]. | |
![]() | Confessions of Convict 143: She’s one of the best ‘con-women’ in the world. | |
![]() | Chimmie Fadden and Mr Paul 95: De con man and come-on. | |
![]() | Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 79: ‘[H]e couldn’t tell a con guy from a hodcarrier’. | |
![]() | Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 72: [He is] only a con-man what couldn’t lick nobody. | ‘Charlie the Wolf’ in|
![]() | Story Omnibus (1966) 160: In 1908 Conyers appeared on the Pacific coast [...] in company with a con man known as ‘Duster’ Hughes. | ‘Dead Yellow Women’|
![]() | London and its Criminals 32: Madge Carson, one of the smartest ‘con’ women (confidence tricksters) in England. | |
![]() | Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 20/8: The men who worry the police most are the ‘whizz’ or ‘con.’ men. | |
![]() | Gilt Kid 50: Not a bad con-man in her own way when he came to weigh it up. She had let him make the running, and suggest the dough himself. | |
![]() | N.Y. Age 29 Aug. 9/6: The ‘con-man’ and the hustlers are fading fast away [...] in search of fatter prey. | ‘Observation Post’ in|
![]() | News of the World 11 June 7: An expert ‘con’ man, with a criminal career, under seven aliases, dating back to 1905, has returned to penal servitude. | |
![]() | ‘Double Take’ in Best of Manhunt (2019) [ebook] Confidence men are psychologists with diplomas from sad people: the suckers, the marks, that the con-boys have taken. | |
![]() | Till Human Voices Wake Us 156: There was a Con-man in the hut next to Phil. | |
![]() | On The Road (1972) 10: Though he was a con-man, he was only conning because he wanted so much to live. | |
![]() | Imabelle 40: There was a con man called Morgan in my place last night. | |
![]() | (con. 1926) Early Havoc 72: That was my first brush with a real con woman. | |
![]() | Rage in Harlem (1969) 42: [as 1957]. | |
![]() | Pimp 34: He entreats the con player to take him there, not just direct him. | |
![]() | Inside the Und. 92: Con-men are not much liked in the underworld. | |
![]() | Wiseguy (2001) 191: The body of a forty-two-year-old hustler and con man. | |
![]() | Indep. Mag. 6 Aug. 6: Having been bamboozled by a con-man on his doorstep. | |
![]() | Mad mag. Jan. 10: I hate street hustlers, pushers [and] con men. | |
![]() | Running the Books 36: Jacob was a con man who spent most of his life on the lam. | |
![]() | Pulp Ink [ebook] Sally Sincyr, a con woman who specialized in the grieving niece bit. | ‘Slicers’ Serenade of Steel’ in|
![]() | Rolling Stone 14 Oct. 🌐 Egged on to a doomed rebellion by a third-rate con man who wilted under pressure. | |
![]() | Consolation 302: ‘Enter a pair of Irish conmen’. |
3. attrib. use of sense 2.
![]() | On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 357: A rangy bashful shock-haired Denver boy with a big conman smile. |
4. (US) a former convict.
![]() | Milk and Honey Route 203: Con man [...] ex-convict. |