cahoots en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /kəˈhuts/ (General-American)
- kə-ho͞otsʹ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
- /kəˈhuːts/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm From earlier cahoot + -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns). Cahoot is probably borrowed: * from French cahute (“hut, shack”), from Dutch kajuit (“cabin on a ship”), from Middle Low German kajüte, probably from Middle Dutch kayhute; further etymology uncertain, possibly borrowed from Old French *cahute, chahute (whence Middle French quahute), a blend of cabane (“cabin, hut, shack”) + hute (“hut”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to conceal, hide; to cover; hide, skin”)); or * from French cohorte (“group of people supporting the same person or thing, cohort”), from Latin cohors (“cohort; crowd”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”) + *ǵʰer- (“to enclose”) (and if so, a doublet of cohort).
Meanings
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(plural, plural-normally) Chiefly preceded by in: collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason.
Those two are definitely in cahoots.
[A] sense of grievance and victimization has come to permeate the modern conservative identity. […] In this account, Hollywood acts in functional cahoots with academia and the news media, and what drives the populism of Republican politicians like Ron DeSantis in Florida and J[ames] D[avid] Vance in Ohio is full-throated opposition to those institutions.
2022 June 6, A[nthony] O[liver] Scott, “Critic's notebook: Are the movies liberal?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2023:There was no stage on the road, and no vehicle in the place except these mighty wagons. Accordingly I struck a bargain with a wagoner, who took my baggage. 'You may go with me,' said he, 'but may-be you can't go cahoots with me in my eatin' fixin's, stranger.'
1843 November 8, “Letters from the South-west—No. 1”, in H. A. Graves, editor, Christian Reflector: A Religious and Family Newspaper, volume VI, number 45 (number 279 overall), Boston, Mass.: William S[hapleigh] Damrell, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 2:Like as not, Uncle Billy is still in ‘cahoots’ [i.e., shares] with his old pard, and is just laughin’ at us as he’s sendin’ him accounts of our tomfoolin’.
1888, Bret Harte, “Uncle Jim and Uncle Billy”, in Stories in Light and Shadow; The Argonauts of North Liberty (The Works of Bret Harte; XIII), Argonaut edition, New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son, published 1, →OCLC, page 65:The Klan was in cahoots with political, business, and law-enforcement leaders.
2005, Steven D[avid] Levitt, Stephen J[oseph] Dubner, “How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-estate Agents? In which is Argued that Nothing is More Powerful than Information, Especially when Its Power is Abused”, in Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN, page 58:[…] I suspected him of being in cahoots with the steward, who got the lights doused long enough for the pearls to be stolen.
1926 August 21, Henry C. Rowland, “Twin Propellers. Chapter XI.”, in George Horace Lorimer, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 199, number 8, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51, column 2:They probably give it back to him; they're all in cahoots.
1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 74:Now it came to pass that the President of the Republic of Guaduragua was suspected of being in cahoots with a Juju society, of consulting astrologers, and of being under the undue influence of a designing woman; whereupon the Guaduraguan Parliament thought it well to investigate the matter, and came together on its own initiative for that purpose. […] [I]t was not in Guaduragua at all that the comedy was enacted, but in one of the Sovereign Commonwealths of the United States of America.
1928 March, “Trouble in Guaduragua”, in The North American Review, volume CCXXV, number 841, New York, N.Y.: North American Review Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 371–372:
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(form-of, plural, plural-normally, uncommon) plural of cahoot (“a company or partnership; a group of people working together, chiefly for a nefarious reason, hence, a collaboration or collusion; an accomplice, partner”)
form of cahoot
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cahoot | Number=Sing | lexicographic | |
| kahootz | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
Translations (15)
es colusión (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · fi salajuoni (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · sv maskopi (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · no ledtog (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · ru соучастник (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · it combutta (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · pt conluio (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · ja 共謀 (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · da ledtog (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · fr ligue (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · de etwas gemeinsam ausfressen (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · hu összejátszás (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · el τα κάνω πλακάκια (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · pt trama (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion) · fi juonittelu (collaboration or collusion, chiefly for a nefarious reason — see also collaboration, collusion)