shyster
noun
- person who acts in a disreputable manner
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈʃaɪs.tə(ɹ)/ / /ˈʃaɪs.tɚ/
noun
Etymology: US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from shicer, from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
- Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
“True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.”
“The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.”
verb
Etymology: US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from shicer, from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.
- To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
- To exploit (someone or something) in this way.