cahoots

singular cahoot · alternative kahootz

1. pluralplural normallyChiefly preceded by in: collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason.First known use early 19th c.

   Those two are definitely in cahoots.

   5 more examples

   There was no stage on the road, and no vehicle in the place except these mighty wagons. Accordingly I struck a bargain with a wagoner, who took my baggage. 'You may go with me,' said he, 'but may-be you can't go cahoots with me in my eatin' fixin's, stranger.'

   1843 November 8, “Letters from the South-west—No. 1”, in H. A. Graves, editor, Christian Reflector: A Religious and Family Newspaper, volume VI, number 45 (number 279 overall), Boston, Mass.: William S[hapleigh] Damrell, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 2

   Like as not, Uncle Billy is still in ‘cahoots’ [i.e., shares] with his old pard, and is just laughin’ at us as he’s sendin’ him accounts of our tomfoolin’.

   1888, Bret Harte, “Uncle Jim and Uncle Billy”, in Stories in Light and Shadow; The Argonauts of North Liberty (The Works of Bret Harte; XIII), Argonaut edition, New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son, published 1, →OCLC, page 65

   […] I suspected him of being in cahoots with the steward, who got the lights doused long enough for the pearls to be stolen.

   1926 August 21, Henry C. Rowland, “Twin Propellers. Chapter XI.”, in George Horace Lorimer, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 199, number 8, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51, column 2

   Now it came to pass that the President of the Republic of Guaduragua was suspected of being in cahoots with a Juju society, of consulting astrologers, and of being under the undue influence of a designing woman; whereupon the Guaduraguan Parliament thought it well to investigate the matter, and came together on its own initiative for that purpose. […] [I]t was not in Guaduragua at all that the comedy was enacted, but in one of the Sovereign Commonwealths of the United States of America.

   1928 March, “Trouble in Guaduragua”, in The North American Review, volume CCXXV, number 841, New York, N.Y.: North American Review Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 371–372

   They probably give it back to him; they're all in cahoots.

   1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 74

   Synonyms: cahoot

2. pluralplural normallyuncommonplural of cahoot (“a company or partnership; a group of people working together, chiefly for a nefarious reason, hence, a collaboration or collusion; an accomplice, partner”)

1. indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of cahoot