From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
cony -catching uncountable
( 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 [ … ] [ … ] 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.
