Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FRAUD, n. [L. fraus; Fr. Sp. It. and Port. fraude. This agrees in elements with Sax. bræd, bred, fraud, which is contracted from brægden, fraud, guile, disguise; and bræg coincides with brigue. But I know not that these words are connected with the Latin fraus.]

Deceit; deception; trick; artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured; a stratagem intended to obtain some undue advantage; an attempt to gain or the obtaining of an advantage over another by imposition or immoral means, particularly deception in contracts, or bargain and sale, either by stating falsehoods, or suppressing truth. If success a lover's toil attends, / Who asks if force or fraud obtained his ends? Pope.