cony-catching
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Noun
[edit]- (obsolete) Deception, trickery. [16th–17th c.]
- c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
- Come, you are so full of conicatching.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter VIII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- I doe beware and keepe my selfe from such treasons, and cunny-catching in mine owne bosome, not by an unquiet, and tumultuary curiosity, but rather by a diversion and resolution.