noun
General Slang
cumshaw
· noun · military
Trading something that isn't yours for something that isn't theirs.
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Definitions
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The fine art of obtaining things through unofficial channels — barter, favors, scrounging. A cumshaw operator can magic up a part the supply system swears doesn't exist, usually by trading something else he 'acquired' the same way. Greasing the wheels, off the books. Essential to making any ship actually run.
“We needed a new coffee maker for the wardroom, so the chief cumshawed one off a destroyer in port.”
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cumshaw In A Sentence
We needed a new coffee maker for the wardroom, so the chief cumshawed one off a destroyer in port.
Origin & Usage
From Chinese (Xiamen dialect) 'kam sia' meaning 'grateful thanks' — picked up by US sailors on the China Station in the late 1800s, where beggars would call it out. Drifted in Navy use to mean unofficial procurement.
Variants
comeshaw
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