comshaw

comshaw noun: a bribe or gratuity for a service or for arranging a deal; squeeze.

Noun

comshaw (countable and uncountable, plural comshaws)

(dated) A bribe or gratuity for a service or for arranging a deal; squeeze.
- I have understood that the parents frequently receive handsome comshaws for their daughter, but never give anything with them ; they cannot therefore be charged with the meanness of marrying for money: at least the men are free from the charge and the women don't appear to have so much as a...1888, Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society
- It is a case of cash down; you have to part there and then, and on the strength of this “comshaw,” or squeeze.1899, Textile World - Volume 16, page 40
(slang) The practice of pilfering or bartering for surplus items.
- The practice was so common it was no longer considered stealing. It was comshaw. That kind of thinking made the Iran/Contra arms scandal and Watergate okay at the time. It's comshaw when you do it, but it's stealing when you get caught; it's politics when you do it, but it's illegal when you're...1990, Jay Carty, Something's Fishy: Getting Rid of the Carp in Your Life, →ISBN, page 145
- Mostly by way of "comshaw," a sailor's term for bartering, but it was usually a coffee grounds deal at LBNS.2002, Ed Goodrich, Riggers that dive, page 53

comshaw (third-person singular simple present comshaws, present participle comshawing, simple past and past participle comshawed)

(slang) To acquire without officially requisitioning; to pilfer or barter for surplus items.
- Chips in Las Vegas are as negotiable as green money. You can take them into any club and cash them in for money, for $5 or $10 or whatever it is. So all you've got to do is put a chip in the end of your fingers, turn your hand down like you're trying to touch your wrist, and you can comshaw — or...1972, Bruce Jackson, In the life: versions of the criminal experience, page 124
- As soon as she was recommissioned Com7thFleet had comshawed her for his flagship.2000, Richard Winston, The Gundeckers: A Description of the Michigamme Mutiny, →ISBN, page 99

She saw me in the act, and immediately demanded a comshaw.1947, James Johnston Abraham, The Surgeon's Log: Impressions of the Far East, page 128:
He posed himself delightedly, pulling his sword well round to the front, and then demanded ' comshaw.' A cigarette completely satisfied him.1968, Francis Fisher Browne, Scofield Thayer, Waldo Ralph Browne, The Dial - Volumes 52-53, page 429:
I'm sure he just wanted some money - some comshaw - the little kids are beggars - money mister, money mister, no momma, no papa, no comshaw.2010, James Shuler, James -Vol. I, →ISBN, page 24:
It's comshaw when you do it, but it's stealing when you get caught; it's politics when you do it, but it's illegal when you're found out.1990, Jay Carty, Something's Fishy: Getting Rid of the Carp in Your Life, →ISBN, page 145:

Noun
plural	comshaws
Verb
third-person singular present	comshaws
present participle	comshawing
past participle	comshawed
past	comshawed

From Hokkien 感謝 /感谢 (kám-siā, “thanks”).

What does comshaw mean?: Comshaw means a bribe or gratuity for a service or for arranging a deal; squeeze.
How do you use comshaw in a sentence?: She saw me in the act, and immediately demanded a comshaw.
What part of speech is comshaw?: Comshaw can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of comshaw?: The plural of comshaw is comshaws.

Adapted from Wiktionary: comshaw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “comshaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/comshaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.