Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb In opposition or disagreement; against.
  • noun An argument or opinion against something.
  • noun One who holds an opposing opinion or view.
  • transitive verb To study, peruse, or examine carefully.
  • transitive verb To learn or commit to memory.
  • transitive verb To swindle (a victim) by first winning his or her confidence; dupe.
  • noun A swindle.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or involving a swindle or fraud.
  • transitive verb To direct the steering or course of (a vessel).
  • noun The area or structure on a vessel from which the vessel is conned.
  • noun The position or authority of the officer conning a vessel.
  • noun A convict.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A dialectal or obsolete variant of can.
  • noun A variant of can, for gan, preterit of gin, begin. See can, gin.
  • To try; attempt (to do a thing).
  • To try; examine; test; taste.
  • To peruse carefully and attentively; study or pore over; learn: as, to con a lesson: often with over.
  • noun An abbreviation of the Latin contra, against (see contra), especially common in the phrase pro and con (Latin pro et contra), for and against, in favor of and opposed to: sometimes used as a noun, with a plural, the pros and cons, the arguments, or arguers, or voters, for and against a proposition.
  • noun The most frequent form of com-.
  • noun Naut.: The position taken by the person who cons or directs the steering of a vessel.
  • noun The act of conning.
  • Short for ‘confidence’: as a con man; a con game. See confidence man, confidence game (under confidence).
  • An abbreviation of Consul
  • [lowercase] of conclusion.
  • Nautical: To direct (the man at the helm of a vessel) how to steer.
  • To give orders for the steering of: as, to con a ship.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Against the affirmative side; in opposition; on the negative side; -- The antithesis of pro, and usually in connection with it. See pro.
  • transitive verb obsolete To know; to understand; to acknowledge.
  • transitive verb To study in order to know; to peruse; to learn; to commit to memory; to regard studiously.
  • transitive verb [Obs.] to be able to answer.
  • transitive verb [Obs.] to thank; to acknowledge obligation.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To conduct, or superintend the steering of (a vessel); to watch the course of (a vessel) and direct the helmsman how to steer.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A disadvantage of something, especially when contrasted with its advantages (pros).
  • verb rare To study, especially in order to gain knowledge of.
  • verb rare, archaic To know, understand, acknowledge.
  • verb Variant spelling of conn: to conduct the movements of a ship at sea.
  • noun slang A convicted criminal, a convict.
  • noun An organized gathering such as a convention or conference.
  • verb nautical To give the necessary orders to the helmsman to steer a ship in the required direction through a channel etc. (rather than steer a compass direction)
  • noun nautical The navigational direction of a ship
  • noun slang A fraud; something carried out with the intention of deceiving, usually for personal, often illegal, gain.
  • verb transitive, slang To trick or defraud, usually for personal gain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb deprive of by deceit
  • adverb in opposition to a proposition, opinion, etc.
  • noun an argument opposed to a proposal
  • noun a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison
  • verb commit to memory; learn by heart
  • noun a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for contra.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English connen, to know, from Old English cunnan; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for confidence.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From cond, from Middle English conduen, from Old French conduire, from Latin condūcere, to lead together; see conduce.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation of Latin contra ("against").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From con trick, shortened from confidence trick.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English connen, from Old English cunnan ("to know, know how"). More at can.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened from convict.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation of convention or conference

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From earlier cond, from Middle English conduen, from Old French conduire, from Latin condūcere, present active infinitive of condūcō ("draw together; conduct").

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Examples

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  • Cunt in French. Not very much a taboo, and not a very strong word. There's even an affectionate insult like: vieux con, old fool. Le roi des cons, "king of cunts" implies to a total idiot, while Quelle connerie! means "What rubbish!".

    Catherine Blackledge: The story of V.

    March 6, 2008

  • In the sense of deceit has been ruled unparliamentary language by the Speaker of the House of Commons during a debate, in October 2013, in which the prime minister apparently accused the leader of the opposition of using dubious reasoning.

    October 30, 2013