The Collaborative International Dictionary
Con \Con\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Conned; p. pr. & vb. n. Conning.] [AS. cunnan to know, be able, and (derived from this) cunnian to try, test. See Can, v. t. & i.]
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To know; to understand; to acknowledge. [Obs.]
Of muses, Hobbinol, I con no skill.
--Spenser.They say they con to heaven the highway.
--Spenser. -
To study in order to know; to peruse; to learn; to commit to memory; to regard studiously.
Fixedly did look Upon the muddy waters which he conned As if he had been reading in a book.
--Wordsworth.I did not come into Parliament to con my lesson.
--Burke.To con answer, to be able to answer. [Obs.]
To con thanks, to thank; to acknowledge obligation. [Obs.]
--Shak.
Wiktionary
n. (cx nautical English) reckoning vb. 1 (present participle of con English) 2 (present participle of conn English)
WordNet
See con
n. an argument opposed to a proposal [ant: pro]
a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison [syn: convict, inmate, jailbird, gaolbird]
a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property [syn: bunco, bunco game, bunko, bunko game, confidence trick, confidence game, con game, gyp, hustle, sting, flimflam]
adv. on the negative side; "much was written pro and con" [syn: in opposition] [ant: pro]
v. deprive of by deceit; "He swindled me out of my inheritance"; "She defrauded the customers who trusted her"; "the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change" [syn: victimize, swindle, rook, goldbrick, nobble, diddle, bunco, defraud, scam, mulct, gyp]
commit to memory; learn by heart; "Have you memorized your lines for the play yet?" [syn: memorize, memorise, learn]
Wikipedia
Conning may refer to:
- Conning tower, a raised platform on a ship or submarine from which an officer can give directions to the helmsman
- Rico Conning (21st century), producer, songwriter, sound designer, and guitarist
- Conning & company, a business headquartered in Hartford, CT
Usage examples of "conning".
At the same time, the British ship was slowly eased upward until the conning tower was barely awash.
Had that bulb been thrown inside the conning tower, Gadberry and those with him would have been overcome, could have been taken captive.
The pistol cracked, the bullet mushrooming on the armour-plated conning tower.
Instead, the long, sleek hulls and oddly streamlined conning towers of three great U-boats lay under the cranes.
He had gone straight for the conning tower, checked out the Kapitan and the navigating officer bent over the charts.
The changeover from air to peroxide was activated by a float switch on the conning tower.
He stumbled along the quay after that conning tower, yelling hoarsely with rage.
But the conning tower slid away faster than he could chase it down the quay.
Their Kapitans conferred, conning tower to conning tower, with the casualness of men who knew that a hundred metres of water made them untouchable.
He was a small, pale man, and he did not look pleased to be sent off the conning tower.
He was not even in his conning tower but had been fighting his ship from the fire control station in the turret.
Satisfied, he reported to the conning room that his section had received basic instruction and was ready to disembark.
As soon as it started firing, he and Brearley ducked down the hatch into the conning tower.
After six or eight shells went into the woods, bullets stopped clanging off the side of the conning tower.
As it neared the middle of the bay it slowly submerged until only a conning tower was left above water, and with that cutting the waves it headed to the open sea.