goldbrick

Meaning

Noun

1. Something fraudulent or nonexistent offered for sale; a swindle or con.
2. (US, dated, slang) A shirker or malingerer.
3. (US, dated, slang) A swindler.

Verb

1. (US, dated, slang) To shirk or malinger.
2. (US, dated, slang) To swindle.

Synonyms

gip

goof-off

mulct

ne’er-do-well

no-account

gyp

good-for-naught

rook

fiddle

short-change

good-for-nothing

hornswoggle

swindle

scam

shrink from

diddle

cut

shark

🦈

victimize

nobble

bunco

shirk

con

defraud

phony

play hooky

ringer

scammer

screw

bamboozle

spiv

swindler

take in

trick

truant

two-timer

utterer

weasel

welcher

welsher

whipsaw

play tricks

shammer

feign illness

ganef

sandbagger

flim-flam

clip artist

ganof

gonif

Translations

frauder

inútil

estafar

desastre

dropo

calamitat

defraudar

trasto

torrapipes

Schwindel

arnaquer

bon à rien

escroquer

fainéant

تلاعب

Etymology

From gold + brick, originally (1850s) an actual gold ingot or brick, later a swindle that consisted of selling a putative gold brick, which was only coated in gold. The swindle is attested from 1879, the sense “to swindle” is attested 1902, and the sense “to shirk” is attested 1914, popularized as World War I armed forces slang. In early 1900s, used to refer to an unattractive young woman – not pretty, nor able to talk or dance (attested 1903), thence to refer to incompetent enlisted troops at the start of World War I, reinforced by the rank insignia of second lieutenants, which was a gold rectangle.