sharking

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The practice of living by cheating, swindling, or preying on others through cunning and trickery.

   Years of sharking at the card tables had earned him a reputation no honest man wanted.

   She accused the brokers of sharking, luring trusting people into worthless deals.

   Similarswindling, cheating, fraud, trickery

   Note

   A mass noun for the activity, whichever kind of sharking is meant, so context decides its sense. In older writing it means cheating and living by one's wits. In present-day UK use it can mean chasing freshers at a bar, the mildly derogatory sense explained with the -ing verb. Being uncountable, it takes no plural, so write years of sharking, never sharkings.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of shark.

   The con man was sharking his way through the crowd, fleecing anyone who trusted him.

   Investors complained that the firm had been sharking them for years.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of shark, and those uses sit far apart in register. The swindling senses, such as sharking for a living or living by shifts, are obsolete, and fishing for sharks is rare. The live use is UK and mildly derogatory: pursuing a fresher for casual sex. Used intransitively, one goes out sharking at a club; used transitively, the fresher becomes the object.

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