Verb

(en verb)

(archaic) To cheat; to defraud; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way.

* 1602 , , Act III, Scene 2,

What devil was't / That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?

* , 1851, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor , Volume 1, page 895,

It is certain that children may be cozened into goodness, and sick men to health, and passengers in a storm into safety; and the reason of these is, — because not only the end is fair, and charitable, and just, but the means are such which do no injury to the persons which are to receive benefit;.

* 1866 , Spoils, By a Receiver'', Charles Chauncey Burr (editor), ''The Old Guard: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Principles of 1776 and 1787 , Volume 4, page 497,

The man, too, who has been matrimonially cozened''''', "would all the world might be '''cozened'''," for he has been '''cozened''', and beaten too; but with him the cudgel is "hallowed;" he would "hang it o'er the altar;" perhaps for the reason given by the "Merry Wives of Windsor," because "it hath done meritorious service;" and no sooner is he, by a seemingly merciful disposition of Providence, released from the cudgeler, but he is in haste to be ' cozened and beaten again.

* 1914 , , The Gates of Doom , 2001, page 217,

But that you should have been cozened' with me, that my ' cozening should in part have been a natural sequel to your own, rather than an independent error of mine, is a helpful reflection to me in this dark hour.

Verb

(delud)

To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=August 5 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) citation , page= , passage=Ralph Wiggum is generally employed as a bottomless fount of glorious non sequiturs, but in “I Love Lisa” he stands in for every oblivious chump who ever deluded himself into thinking that with persistence, determination, and a pure heart he can win the girl of his dreams. }}

* Burke

To delude the nation by an airy phantom.

(obsolete) To frustrate or disappoint.

* Dryden

It deludes thy search.