SG Heritage Dictionary

Gudgeon [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. gud'jin. A small fish of the genus Cyprinus, a fish easily caught, and hence,

2. A person easily cheated or ensnared.

3. A bait; allurement; something to be caught to a man's disadvantage.

4. An iron pin on which a wheel turns.

5. Sea-gudgeon, the black goby or rock fish.

Gudgeon [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A small European freshwater fish (Gobio fluviatilis), allied to the carp. It is easily caught and often used for food and for bait. In America the killifishes or minnows are often called gudgeons.

2. What may be got without skill or merit.

3. A person easily duped or cheated.

4. The pin of iron fastened in the end of a wooden shaft or axle, on which it turns; formerly, any journal, or pivot, or bearing, as the pintle and eye of a hinge, but esp. the end journal of a horizontal.

5. A metal eye or socket attached to the sternpost to receive the pintle of the rudder.

Gudgeon [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To deprive fraudulently; to cheat; to dupe; to impose upon.

Gudgeon Encyclopedia Britannica

GUDGEON(Cobio), a small fish of the family Cypri- nidae (see Ichthyology), with narrow, cylindrical body, and with a small barbel at each corner of the mouth. These fishes are generally distributed over Europe, the most common being Cobio fluviatilis, called “goujon” in France, “grässling” or “gründling” in Germany, and “gobione” in Italy. They thrive in streams as well as lakes, always keeping to the bottom, and scarcely exceeding a length of 8 inches. Gudgeons differing but little from the European are equally common in China and Japan.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 243
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