shill.
A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
Meaning & usage
A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
carnival barkers and their shills, fleecing the rubes
Any person enthusiastically endorsing a product; especially, one who is getting paid for the endorsement.
On the screen, there was that quack again, playing the shill for yet another drug company.
An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game, such as an accomplice of the seller who bids to drive up the price.
Sniping is necessary because if you bid before the last minute it just gives the shills more time to screw you over.
A house player in a casino.
Where this word comes from
Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction. Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber. There are some suggestions that it originates in the surname Shilaber or Shillibeer, especially George Shillibeer, but proposed origins are dubious as the word is first attested in North America in the 20th century, while proposed models are 19th century British. American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–1890) was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, although there is no specific evidence supporting a connection.
To promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly; sometimes extended sarcastically even to those not paid but strongly biased in favor.
That contractor seems to be shilling for a certain brand of building materials.
That contractor seems to be shilling that specific epoxy.
Where this word comes from
Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction. Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber. There are some suggestions that it originates in the surname Shilaber or Shillibeer, especially George Shillibeer, but proposed origins are dubious as the word is first attested in North America in the 20th century, while proposed models are 19th century British. American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–1890) was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, although there is no specific evidence supporting a connection.
To put under cover; to sheal.
To shell.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.