subs. (American).—An imposture; a swindle; a method of cheating.
1845. New York Tribune, 10 Dec. R—— and H—— will probably receive from Mr. Polk’s administration $100,000 more than respectable printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, plain GOUGE of this sum out of the people’s strong box.
Verb. (old).—1. GROSE says, ‘To squeeze out a man’s eye with the thumb, a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.’
1848. RUXTON, Life in the Far West, p. 49. His eyes having been GOUGED in a mountain fray.
2. (American).—To defraud.
1845. New York Tribune, 26 Nov. Very well, gentlemen! GOUGE Mr. Crosby out of the seat, if you think it wholesome to do it.
1874. W. D. HOWELLS, Foregone Conclusions, ch. iii. The man’s a perfect Jew—or a perfect Christian, one ought to say in Venice; we true believers do GOUGE so much more infamously here.
1885. BRET HARTE, A Ship of ’49, ch. i. He ’s regularly GOUGED me in that ere horsehair spekilation.
