collusion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English collusioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French collusion^[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin collūsiō (“a playing together; collusion”),^[4][5][7][2] from the past participle of collūdō (“to play together; to collude”),^[7][8] formed from com- (“with, together”) and lūdō (“to play”), from lūdus (“game, play”).^[4][5][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1291–92.^[9] The verb collude was borrowed from the same Latin verb in 1525.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, a secret agreement between persons to get round the law or to gain an end by fraud: 1389, in the London guild returns.^[2][5] The OED's first example is from Chaucer's Lak of Stedfastnesse (c. 1397), the only time Chaucer uses it.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the literal sense "a playing together", given in Blount's Glossographia (1656), is not found in use in Latin or English: the word meant secret, underhand agreement from the start.^[6] Weekley explains the Latin as playing into one another's hands.^[11] The specifically legal sense, an agreement between apparent opponents in a lawsuit to deceive the court or defraud a third party, is recorded from 1509–10,^[6] and Johnson (1755) quoted Cowell's definition of it as a deceitful compact between two or more to bring an action against each other for an evil purpose.^[12] From 1581 to 1659 the word could also mean a trick or ambiguity in words or reasoning.^[6]

Timeline

• 1389 – a secret fraudulent agreement, in law.^[2][5]
• c. 1397 – secret understanding for trickery, in Chaucer.^[6]
• 1509–10 – law, collusion between parties to a suit.^[6]
• 1525 – the verb collude.^[5]
• 1578 – an instance of collusion, a plot.^[6]
• 1581 – a trick in reasoning (obsolete after 1659).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Secret agreement or cooperation for a fraudulent or deceitful purpose; conspiracy: The two firms acted in collusion to fix prices.^{[3][13][14][6]}
2. (law) A secret agreement between parties who appear to be opponents in a lawsuit, to deceive the court or to defraud another of their rights.^[13][3][6]

Word family

• collusive
• collusively
• noncollusion
• precollusion

Related words

• collude
• delusion
• allusion
• elusion
• illusion
• ludicrous
• prelude
• interlude

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes Fowler: the idea of fraud or underhandedness is essential to collusion.^[4] Dictionary.com notes that it is sometimes confused with collision.^[14]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House