1661. Brome, Poems, ‘The Cure of Care.’ Those gulls that by scraping and toiling.
1818. S. E. Ferrier, Marriage, ch. li. The poor gull was caught, and is now, I really believe, as much in love as it is in the nature of a stupid man to be.
1850. D. Jerrold, The Catspaw, Act i. Pshaw! some rascal that lives on simpletons and gulls.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 231. I was a dweller under roofs; the gull of that which we call civilisation.
2. (old).—A cheat; a fraud; a trick.
1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 3. I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, q.v.
3. (Oxford Univ.).—A swindler; a trickster. Cf., Gull-catcher, of which it is probably an abbreviation.
1825. The English Spy, v. I., p. 161. ‘You’ll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls.’ ‘I never understood that gulls were birds of prey,’ said I. ‘Only in Oxford, sir, and here, I assure you, they bite like hawks.’
Verb (old: now recognised).—To cheat; to dupe; to victimise; to take in (q.v.). in any fashion and to any purpose.