Dictionary entry

Cozen

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Coz″en (k?z″'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p.Cozened (–'nd); p. pr. & vb. n.Cozening (–'n–?ng).] [From cousin, hence, literally, to deceive through pretext of relationship, F. cousiner.] To cheat; to defraud; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way.

He had cozened the world by fine phrases.

Macaulay.

Children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters.

Locke.

Goring loved no man so well but that he would cozen him,

and expose him to public mirth for having been cozened.

Clarendon.