sucker

There is always someone willing or able to be swindled or deceived. The phrase is usually attributed to American showman P.T. Barnum. Any time I see a ridiculous product for sale, I remind myself that there's a sucker born every minute. The only reason he has a following is because there's a sucker born every minute. No rational person would think he knows what he's talking about!

someone who is prejudiced in favor of someone or something; someone who is drawn to someone or something. I'm a sucker for a pretty face. Ted is a sucker for any dessert with whipped cream on it. I don't know why I volunteered for this job. I'm a sucker for punishment I guess.

Fig. a list of potential dupes; a list of people who might be taken in by deception. I'm sure on their sucker list. They are trying to get me to give a lecture and receive a free clock or something. Here's the sucker list. Call them all and try to get them interested.

Sl. to deceive someone into some sort of scam or confidence game; to play someone for a fool. Surely you don't think you can sucker me into doing something as stupid as that, do you? The con artist suckered in an unsuspecting tourist.

to treat someone as if they are stupid Don't try to play me for a sucker. I want to know where the rest of the money went.

Don't allow a person who's easily duped a fair chance, as in He's always trying to give out expired coupons for his store, firmly believing in never giving a sucker an even break . Probably a direct quotation, it has been attributed to showman P. T. Barnum (responsible for the oft-quoted "There's a sucker born every minute"); and comedian W. C. Fields (who popularized it in one of his films); and theater manager Edward Francis Albee, the most probable of the three. [Slang; early 1900s]

A list of names of likely prospects for making purchases or donations, as in Some charities raise money by selling their sucker lists to other organizations. This term uses sucker in the sense of "dupe," a usage that in turn alludes to the naiveté of a baby suckling at its mother's breast. [Colloquial; 1940s]

An unexpected blow, as in They felt that suddenly raising the interest rate was a sucker punch to the administration. This expression comes from boxing, where it is used for a punch delivered unexpectedly; boxing great Jack Dempsey wrote, "The right lead [for a right-handed boxer] is called a sucker punch." [Slang; mid-1900s]