verneuk, verb transitive

Forms:
ferneuk, vernoekShow more Also ferneuk, vernoek, vinook.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch verneuken (not in polite use).
slang
To deceive; to cheat, swindle.
1871 W.G. Atherstone in Cape Monthly Mag. III. July 46How Hendrik enjoyed verneuking the Boer!
[1888 Cape Punch 13 June 139Der Groot Gelt Vernuking Golt Mining Gompany was der soundest venture in der vorlt ‘of its kind’.]
1899 S. Erasmus Prinsloo 4Had I been able to cypher and read writing as the old teacher wishes, I should not have been verneuked by so many Rooineks.
1909 R. Cullum Compact 213He has vinooked the Kaffir chiefs into granting large concessions.
1915 Rand Daily Mail 1 Mar.The farmers, recognising..that they have no friends, and no redress, merely shrung their shoulders, and scrap-heap the new separators, patent churns, etc. the Government and National Union ‘verneuked’ them into buying.
1937 S. Cloete Turning Wheels 253‘Ach’, she sighed, ‘to think that Gert Kleinhouse, whose nose I used to wipe with a lappie, has verneuked me out of a lovely little pig’.
1963 K. Mackenzie Dragon to Kill 101‘This story,’ he said, ‘would be of a South African farm, of course, deep in the Marico country perhaps and full of comic Bosman Afrikaners verneuking each other in dead-pan self-righteousness’.
1965 J. Bennett Hawk Alone 191‘Don’t let them verneuk you, Mr Vance,’ said Harry Mulder. ‘These gooses are damn slim, man. You got to watch them.’
1972 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Please write down the weight and price per lb. of the meat so that my maid can see that I am not verneuking her.
1976 S. Cloete Canary Pie 99The boys and spans of oxen were just a ruse to draw them off and verneuk them.
To deceive; to cheat, swindle.
Derivatives:
Hence verneuker  noun [Afrikaans], a swindler; verneukering  verbal noun (rare), swindling, deceiving; verneukery /fə(r)ˈniœkəˌreɪ//fə(r)ˈnjuːkəri//fənuːkəri/ noun, also verneukerie, verneukerij, [Afrikaans], a deception or swindle; see also Boer verneuker.
1891 J.P. Legg in Cape Illust. Mag. I. 96A ‘slim’ fellow often finds himself out done in ‘verneukerij.’
1896 Westminster Gaz. (U.K.) 4 July 8We women of South Africa despise such maudlin verneukery.
1900 J. Robinson Life Time S. Afr. 185Hence arose the practice of ‘verneukering’ — by which buyer and seller each sought to get the better of each other.
1901 J. Stuart Pictures of War 95Of course these flags of truce are merely exhibited by Boers as a piece of verneukerie — a swindle.
1911 E. London Dispatch 23 Nov. 5 (Pettman)The assistant librarian from the British Museum testified that verneuker meant swindler. It was never used in polite society before a lady.
1915 D. Fairbridge Torch Bearer 233Andries Brink looked at him in contempt. ‘That is all the doctor’s verneukerij (swindling). When did Dr. Lange ever stick a needle into people to cure them of sore throat?’
1924 L. Cohen Reminisc. of Jhb. 43Heaven has sent thee, O Son of Palestine, into a Land of Promise, the inhabitants of which happy valley regard it as a distinction to be decently plundered, and where rogues and verneukers must surely prosper.
1924 L. Cohen Reminisc. of Jhb. 96A German share-dealer..waxed exceedingly wroth; he had lost a sovereign. ‘What is this verneukery?’ he exclaimed angrily.
1940 F.B. Young City of Gold 26That slim verneuker lawyer played each of them off against the other and tricked them out of their claims.
1956 M. Rogers Black Sash 185‘Nor did it provide any special protection against “verneukery” (cheating). In fact, such a protection is impossible,’ she said.
1963 K. Mackenzie Dragon to Kill 182He looked unflusterable, the big policeman, and also much too trustworthy for any suggestions of verneukery to make any progress.
1983 J.A. Brown White Locusts 105The Rand’s been built on a bluff so far, stock market verneukerij, as the Dutchmen say.
1984 Drum July 22I have saved your good money from buying useless cream. The man is a verneuker.
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