"snake-oil" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From snake oil.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "snake-oils",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "snake-oil (third-person singular simple present snake-oils, present participle snake-oiling, simple past and past participle snake-oiled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1995, Nancy Owen Nelson, editor, Private Voices, Public Lives:",
          "text": "And this is particularly so for many of our women students who have been hustled and snake-oiled to deny the validity of their intellects.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 23:",
          "text": "Before she had a chance to deal with her hangover, he was on the phone snake-oiling her into the first of what would be many ill-fated fraud cases.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dupe or con."
      ],
      "id": "en-snake-oil-en-verb-ObYo2MqJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "dupe",
          "dupe"
        ],
        [
          "con",
          "con"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, transitive) To dupe or con."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "snake-oil"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From snake oil.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "snake-oils",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "snake-oiled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "snake-oil (third-person singular simple present snake-oils, present participle snake-oiling, simple past and past participle snake-oiled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1995, Nancy Owen Nelson, editor, Private Voices, Public Lives:",
          "text": "And this is particularly so for many of our women students who have been hustled and snake-oiled to deny the validity of their intellects.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 23:",
          "text": "Before she had a chance to deal with her hangover, he was on the phone snake-oiling her into the first of what would be many ill-fated fraud cases.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dupe or con."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dupe",
          "dupe"
        ],
        [
          "con",
          "con"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, transitive) To dupe or con."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "snake-oil"
}