Green’s Dictionary of Slang

con v.

[abbr. SE confidence trick]
(orig. US)

1. (also con along) to fool a victim in one or another form of confidence trick.

[US]Ade Artie (1963) 25: Do n’t try to con me with no such talk.
[US]‘O. Henry’ ‘The Marionettes’ in Rolling Stones (1913) 79: It were vain to attempt to con such men.
[US]E. Wittmann ‘Clipped Words’ in DN IV:ii 138: con, from confidence. To swindle.
[US]A.J. Liebling ‘The Jollity Building’ in Just Enough Liebling (2004) 259: He asked me for a loan of three dollars so he could get his teeth out of hock to con a sucker.
[UK]N&Q Nov. 116/2: Con. To inveigle an individual (either a criminal or an informant) into doing something by verbal trickery [DA].
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 47/2: Con along (or Con). To practice the con.
[US]Kerouac On The Road (1972) 10: He was conning me and I knew it […] and he knew I knew.
[US]J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 11: The addict will beg for it, walk miles for it, wait hours for it, con for it.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 32: She was going to con a con man. Ha!
[UK]P. Bailey Eng. Madam 57: He was a different kind of con man, though. He conned with class.
[Aus]B. Ellem Doing Time 24: When I first come in I was conned a lot, I suppose I was a real sucker, a square head, and the other crims took me down for what they could.
[Aus]J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 47: [I]t was once said that at the Marble Bar that you could be earbashed by Henry Parkes, manipulated by Mark Foy, recited to by Banjo Paterson [...] and conned by Cyril The Dip all in the space of one arvo’s drinking session.
[Scot]I. Welsh Filth 37: A sponging alcoholic jakey who manages to con rich liberal wankers intae believing that he’s some fucking intellectual.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 26 Jan. 16: Bradley also said he had never conned anybody who couldn’t afford it.
[Aus]C. Hammer Opal Country 291: ‘He was boasting about how he conned you’.

2. to persuade, to coax (without criminal intent); usu. as con someone into.

[US]C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 309: Well, we both started out to con that young man.
[US]G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 294: She says as how Steve wasn’t tuh blame fer makin’ th’ touch ’cause she’d ’conned him into it.
[US]D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 141: Louie [...] cons her into coming over there to him.
[US]B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 221: I try to con him out of it [i.e. a foolish plan].
[US]B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 14: I look to con him out of my way with some soft soap.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 67: He tried to con the cops he didn’t know.
K. Mackey Cure 104: Very paranoid for a while but then he had started to con himself that it hadn’t arrived that way.
[UK]P. Fordham Inside the Und. 110: Respectable people conned into business enterprises with strange fellow-directors.
[UK]A. Sayle Train to Hell 59: He’s conned Methuen into letting him write this book.
[Aus]M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 89: The Turk tried to con me to go outside.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 109: The trick was not to con himself that she was solid if she wasn’t.
[US]D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 182: [T]he same person who can be conned into putting down for the bond [etc].

3. to tell stories, to fantasize.

[US]E. Hunter ‘. . . Or Leave It Alone’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 55: Don’t con me, cop [...] They’ll give me the Lexington choice.
[UK]T. Keyes All Night Stand 63: Gerry conning away like mad about some improbable situation.
[US]J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 158: Don’t worry, I’m not conning you.

4. (Aus.) to engage in talk in the hope of procuring sex, to ‘chat up’; also with off, on, up.

[Aus]Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxvii 6/3: I mean, if a table full of dolls at a pub suddenly turns on you and says, ‘Where’s the party?’ you be a mug to spend too much time conning them [Simes:DLSS].
[Aus]D. Williamson Coming of Stork in 3 Plays (1974) 29: There’s a party on in there. Go and con yourself a bird [Simes:DLSS].
F. Wilmott Breaking Up 18: [T]here are always the same guys falling over backwards to try and con her on because she’s real good looking and doesn’t wear a bra [Simes:DLSS].
C. Bowles G’Day! 14: Gazza: You look rooted. ’Ard night? Shane: Yeah, been on the nest al night. Gazza: Lucky bastard. Shane: Just some blonde tart I conned up at Selina’s [ibid.] 85: Shane gets absolutely full, tries to con up his boss’s wife, and shits in his own nest.
[Aus]A. Wearne Nightmarkets 4: And so, each Sunday,/ lacking much else, we would arrive: Robert conning off Kerry, Gwen, Gail, Maxene, for life,/ for keeps, which the others never approached [Simes:DLSS].

In phrases

con out of (v.)

to trick someone into handing over or giving up something they would prefer to hold on to.

G. Burgess Find the Woman 276: ‘I suppose you think you can con him out of his money,’ snarled O'Shea.
[US]J. Mitchell McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 151: I had a woman who had been conned out of eighteen hundred bucks.
[UK]F. Norman Bang To Rights 132: Some geezer who was doing his lagging for conning some old dear out of a few grand.
[US]J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 29: You never knew when a good connection might walk by, or a trick Helen had been looking for, or someone you knew you could con out of a buck or two.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 17: What they didn’t con him out of he lost in the cheat crap joints.
con up (v.)

(Aus.) to charm a woman; the ultimate aim being seduction.

[Aus]C. Bowles G’DAY 9: MACKA: What about we try an con up those two tarts inner corner?