bunco

bun·co also bun·ko  (bngk) Informal

n. pl. bun·cos also bun·kos

A swindle in which an unsuspecting person is cheated; a confidence game.

tr.v. bun·coed also bun·koed, bun·co·ing also bun·ko·ing, bun·cos also bun·kos

To swindle.

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[Probably alteration of Spanish banca, card game, from Italian banca, bank, of Germanic origin; see bank².]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	bunco - a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property bunco game, bunko, bunko game, con game, confidence game, confidence trick, flimflam, gyp, hustle, con, sting sting operation - a complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care (especially an operation implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals) swindle, cheat, rig - the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme; "that book is a fraud"
Verb	1.	bunco - deprive of by deceit; "He swindled me out of my inheritance"; "She defrauded the customers who trusted her"; "the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change" con, defraud, diddle, gip, goldbrick, gyp, hornswoggle, mulct, nobble, rook, scam, swindle, short-change, victimize short, short-change - cheat someone by not returning him enough money cheat, rip off, chisel - deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money"