Definition of "swindle"

swindle

/ˈswɪnd(ə)l/

verb
third-person singular simple present swindles, present participle swindling, simple past and past participle swindled
1. (transitive) To defraud.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.
3. (chess) for a player in a losing position to play a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw
noun
plural swindles
1. An instance of swindling.
  Quotations
  [T]he scandal was the pretty common one of a corrupt agreement between hotel proprietors and a salesman who took and gave secret commissions, so that his business had a monopoly of all the drink sold in the place. It wasn't even an open slavery like an ordinary tied house; it was a swindle at the expense of everybody the manager was supposed to serve.
  1935, G. K. Chesterton, The Scandal of Father Brown
2. Anything that is deceptively not what it appears to be.
3. (chess) An instance wherein a player in a losing position plays a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.