*cheat*

n. [ rob. an abbrevation of escheat, lands or tenements that fall to a lord or to the state by forfeiture, or by the death of the tenant without heirs; the meaning being explained by the frauds, real or supposed, that were resorted to in procuring escheats. See Escheat. ] 1. An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture. [ 1913 Webster ]

When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who cheats or deceives; an impostor; a deceiver; a cheater. [ 1913 Webster ]

Airy wonders, which cheats interpret. Johnson [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) A troublesome grass, growing as a weed in grain fields; -- called also chess. See Chess. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) The obtaining of property from another by an intentional active distortion of the truth. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When cheats are effected by deceitful or illegal symbols or tokens which may affect the public at large and against which common prudence could not have guarded, they are indictable at common law. Wharton.

Syn. -- Deception; imposture; fraud; delusion; artifice; trick; swindle; deceit; guile; finesse; stratagem. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cheated; p. pr. & vb. n. Cheating. ] [ See Cheat, n., Escheat. ] 1. To deceive and defraud; to impose upon; to trick; to swindle. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of this island. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To beguile. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

To cheat winter of its dreariness. W. Irving.

Syn. -- To trick; cozen; gull; chouse; fool; outwit; circumvent; beguile; mislead; dupe; swindle; defraud; overreach; delude; hoodwink; deceive; bamboozle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To practice fraud or trickery; as, to cheat at cards. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perh. from OF. cheté goods, chattels. ] Wheat, or bread made from wheat. [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their purest cheat,
Thrice bolted, kneaded, and subdued in paste. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being cheated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capability of being cheated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who cheats. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An escheator. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. eschete, escheyte, an escheat, fr. OF. escheit, escheoit, escheeite, esheoite, fr. escheoir (F. échoir) to fall to, fall to the lot of; pref. es- (L. ex) + cheoir, F. choir, to fall, fr. L. cadere. See Chance, and cf. Cheat. ] 1. (Law) (a) (Feud. & Eng. Law) The falling back or reversion of lands, by some casualty or accident, to the lord of the fee, in consequence of the extinction of the blood of the tenant, which may happen by his dying without heirs, and formerly might happen by corruption of blood, that is, by reason of a felony or attainder. Tomlins. Blackstone. (b) (U. S. Law) The reverting of real property to the State, as original and ultimate proprietor, by reason of a failure of persons legally entitled to hold the same. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A distinction is carefully made, by English writers, between escheat to the lord of the fee and forfeiture to the crown. But in this country, where the State holds the place of chief lord of the fee, and is entitled to take alike escheat and by forfeiture, this distinction is not essential. Tomlins. Kent.

(c) A writ, now abolished, to recover escheats from the person in possession. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lands which fall to the lord or the State by escheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which falls to one; a reversion or return [ 1913 Webster ]

To make me great by others' loss is bad escheat. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Esheated; p. pr. & vb. n. Escheating. ] (Law) To revert, or become forfeited, to the lord, the crown, or the State, as lands by the failure of persons entitled to hold the same, or by forfeiture. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this country it is the general rule that when the title to land fails by defect of heirs or devisees, it necessarily escheats to the State; but forfeiture of estate from crime is hardly known in this country, and corruption of blood is universally abolished. Kent. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Law) To forfeit. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Liable to escheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The right of succeeding to an escheat. Sherwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) An officer whose duty it is to observe what escheats have taken place, and to take charge of them. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Escheat. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Escheator. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To exceed in cheating. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Proto-, and Trachea. ] (Zool.) Same as Malacopoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Pro-, and Trachea. ] (Zool.) Same as Malacopoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. requêté, fr. requêter to hunt anew. See Request. ] (Sporting) A strain given on the horn to call back the hounds when they have lost track of the game. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To blow the recheat. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. ] (Zool.) An extensive division of arthropods comprising all those which breathe by tracheae, as distinguished from Crustacea, which breathe by means of branchiae. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Breathing by means of tracheae; of or pertaining to the Tracheata. [ 1913 Webster ]