an accomplice of a confidence trickster or swindler who poses as a genuine customer to entice or encourage others:I used to be a shill in a Reno gambling club figurativethe agency is a shill for the nuclear power industry
a person who pretends to give an impartial endorsement of something in which they themselves have an interest:a megamillionaire who makes more money as a shill for corporate products than he does for playing basketball
verb
[no object]
act or work as a shill:your husband in the crowd could shill for you
Origin:
early 20th century: probably from earlier shillaber, of unknown origin
