carny means A person who works in a carnival (often one who uses exaggerated showmanship or fraud).
carny is pronounced /ˈkɑː(ɹ)ni/.
Etymology
Clipping of carnival + -y (“diminutive, hypocoristic suffix”).
noun
- A person who works in a carnival (often one who uses exaggerated showmanship or fraud).“The Reverend Foster, self-ordained—or directly ordained by God, depending on authority cited—had an instinct for the pulse of his times stronger than that of a skilled carnie sizing up a mark.”
- The jargon used by carnival workers.
- A carnival.
- Flattery.
verb
- To cajole, wheedle, or coax.“The crossing at St. Martin’s Church was mine fust of all; and when the other lads come to it I didn’t take no heed of ’em—only for that I’d have been a bright boy by now, but they carnied me over like; for when I tried to turn ’em off they’d say, in a carnying way, ‘Oh, let us stay on,’ so I never took no heed of ’em.”