card sharper
1
9.6
- noun
:
estafador de cartas
- The detective caught the card sharper cheating during the high-stakes poker game.
Examples
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I took it off a thieving card sharper... but first I shrived him... and sent him to the pearly gates... as nice and pretty as any from his own faith could have done.
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Everyone knew he was a skilled card sharper, always managing to win against unsuspecting players.
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She lost her money to a notorious card sharper who had a trick for every game.
Synonyms
50
9.9
A person who cheats at card games to win money
3
8.2
A person who is very good at playing cards and cheats to win
1
9.3
A person who cheats at card games to win money
1
8.8
A person who cheats at card games to win money
1
9.9
A person who cheats others to get money or things
1
9.9
A card player who cheats to win money
A person who cheats at card games to win money
A person who cheats at card games to win money
How Professional
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'card' (relating to card games) with 'sharper' (an agentive noun meaning a cheat or swindler), so the sense 'a person who cheats at card games' is directly derivable from the parts. This classifier + agent composition is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Card sharper comes from the older word sharper, which was used for a person who used tricks to take money from others. A card sharper is literally someone clever with cards who uses secret moves to 'cheat', so the name now means a professional card cheat.