Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Gudgeon?

\Gud"geon\, n. [OE. gojon, F. goujon, from L. gobio, or gob, Gr. ? Cf. {1st Goby}. ] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A small European freshwater fish ({Gobio fluviatilis}), allied to the carp. It is easily caught and often used for food and for bait. In America the killifishes or minnows are often called {gudgeons.} 2. What may be got without skill or merit. Fish not, with this melancholy bait, For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. --Shak. 3. A person easily duped or cheated. --Swift. 4. (Mach.) The pin of iron fastened in the end of a wooden shaft or axle, on which it turns; formerly, any journal, or pivot, or bearing, as the pintle and eye of a hinge, but esp. the end journal of a horizontal. 6. (Naut.) A metal eye or socket attached to the sternpost to receive the pintle of the rudder. {Ball gudgeon}. See under {Ball}.
\Gud"geon\, v. t. To deprive fraudulently; to cheat; to dupe; to impose upon. [R.] To be gudgeoned of the opportunities which had been given you. --Sir IV. Scott.