Etymology

hornswoggle

horn·swog·gle
H4O1R1N1S1W4O1G2G2L1E1

Today it means: To deceive or trick. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

Unknown, 1829 US, jocular coinage like contemporary absquatulate. Presumably horns + waggle with humorous faux ablaut or combination with wobble (compare later woggle, 1923), perhaps inspired by lassoed steers trying to escape by moving their head.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.