shill
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃɪl/
homophone: she'll (in some accents)
rhymes: -ɪl
Forms: form: shills
Etymology: Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction.
Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber.
There are some suggestions that it originates in the surname Shilaber or Shillibeer, especially George Shillibeer, but proposed origins are dubious as the word is first attested in North America in the 20th century, while proposed models are 19th century British.
American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–1890) was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, although there is no specific evidence supporting a connection.
Senses: examples: text: carnival barkers and their shills, fleecing the rubes
text: You’ve Got Mail is certainly the basic model for the plot, which finds corporate candy shill Joel ([Paul] Rudd) and indie-sweetshop owner Molly ([Amy] Poehler) regaling their dinner companions with the very long, digressive story of how they met and fell in love.
ref: 2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2017:
text: Witnesses have testified that Jim Jones (like a few other professional faith-healers) used shills part of the time […]
ref: 1983, Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising:
synonyms: shiller
coordinate_terms: ringer#Etymology_4
;
hustler
;
simp#Noun_2
glosses: A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
examples: text: On the screen, there was that quack again, playing the shill for yet another drug company.
glosses: Any person enthusiastically endorsing a product; especially, one who is getting paid for the endorsement.
examples: text: Sniping is necessary because if you bid before the last minute it just gives the shills more time to screw you over.
text: The pitchman swept his cane in a slow acceleration over the heads of the crowd and then suddenly pointed the silver cap toward Billy and the shill.
ref: 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing (The Border Trilogy; 2), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN:
text: When a likely customer walks by, one of the shills says something like, “You've got to play this game. This idiot is giving away money.”
ref: 2009, Michael Benson, Cons and Frauds, Infobase, →ISBN, page 21:
synonyms: inside man
glosses: An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game, such as an accomplice of the seller who bids to drive up the price.
examples: text: There may even be a casino shill sitting adjacent to you. Normally, the casino shills are gorgeous women, and sometimes men, so enjoy the scenery.
ref: 2000, Dennis R. Harrison, Casino Gambling: Your Absolute, Quintessential, All You Wanted to Know ...:
topics: gambling
games
synonyms: stick
glosses: A house player in a casino.
Synonyms: shillaber
Related terms: knockout auction