skin game


noun

a dishonest or unscrupulous business operation, scheme, etc.
any cheating or fraudulent trick.

Origin of skin game

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example sentences from the Web for skin game

  • The skin-game artists and shilabers, cheaters, flimflammers, and medicine men flock to these gatherings as flies to a picnic.

    David Lannarck, Midget |George S. Harney
  • Ye tried to kill a thousand-dollar bird by a skin-game, and I'll have it out of your hide.

  • And because grafters, shilabers, and skin-game artists follow circuses, the public thinks these are a part of it.

    David Lannarck, Midget |George S. Harney
  • I suppose it's some parental promise she's made, or some skin-game buyer has been through here and threw a wrench in the gears.

    David Lannarck, Midget |George S. Harney

British Dictionary definitions for skin game

skin game

noun

slang a swindling trick