Meanings
plural shark-gulls
- obsoleteA confidence trickster; a person who preys on simpletons.
1 more example
Complainest thou of bad doings, when there are harlots of all trades, and knaves of all languages? Knowest thou not that sin may be committed either in French, Dutch, Italian, or Spanish, and all after the English fashion? But thou excusest the negligence of thy practice by the last summer's pestilence: alas, poor shark-gull, that put-off is idle! for sergeant Carbuncle, one of the plague's chief officers, dares not venture within three yards of an harlot, because monsieur Drybone, the Frenchman, is a leiger before him.
1604, Thomas Middleton, The Black Book; republished in The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 5, London: Edward Lumley, 1840, page 524
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From shark (“to swindle; to trick”) + gull (“dupe; mark; sucker”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
shark-gull. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shark-gull
“shark-gull.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shark-gull. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shark-gull,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shark-gull.
Source: shark-gull on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.