comshaws

Noun

comshaw (countable and uncountable, plural comshaws)

1. (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
2. (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

See all 3 meanings of comshaw