English word cheat comes from Old French (842-ca. 1400) escheit, Latin evanescere, Latin *cadeo, and later Latin *excadeo ((Vulgar Latin) I decrease, fall away, diminish.)
| Dictionary entry | Language | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| escheit | Old French (842-ca. 1400) (fro) | |
| evanescere | Latin (lat) | |
| *cadeo | Latin (lat) | |
| escheat | Anglo-Norman (xno) | |
| *excadeo | Latin (lat) | (Vulgar Latin) I decrease, fall away, diminish. |
| escheat | English (en) | (legal) The property so reverted.. (legal) The return of property of a deceased person to the state (originally to a feudal lord) where there are no legal heirs or claimants.. (obsolete) Plunder, booty.. That which falls to one; a reversion or return. (of property) To revert to a state or lord because its previous owner died without an heir. |
| escheoir | Old French (842-ca. 1400) (fro) | (impersonal) to happen. To fall. |
| eschete | Middle English (1100-1500) (enm) | |
| chete | Middle English (1100-1500) (enm) | |
| cheat | English (en) | (video games) A hidden means of gaining an unfair advantage in a computer game, often by entering a cheat code.. A card game where the goal is to have no cards remaining in a hand, often by telling lies.. An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception; a fraud; a trick; imposition; imposture.. Someone who cheats (informal: cheater).. The weed cheatgrass. |