\Fraud\ (fr[add]d), n. [F. fraude, L. fraus, fraudis;
prob. akin to Skr. dh[=u]rv to injure, dhv[.r] to cause to
fall, and E. dull.]
1. Deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an
   unlawful or unfair advantage; artifice by which the right
   or interest of another is injured; injurious stratagem;
   deceit; trick.
         If success a lover's toil attends, Few ask, if fraud
         or force attained his ends.           --Pope.
2. (Law) An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose
   of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.
3. A trap or snare. [Obs.]
         To draw the proud King Ahab into fraud. --Milton.
{Constructive fraud} (Law), an act, statement, or omission
   which operates as a fraud, although perhaps not intended
   to be such. --Mozley & W.
{Pious fraud} (Ch. Hist.), a fraud contrived and executed to
   benefit the church or accomplish some good end, upon the
   theory that the end justified the means.
{Statute of frauds} (Law), an English statute (1676), the
   principle of which is incorporated in the legislation of
   all the States of this country, by which writing with
   specific solemnities (varying in the several statutes) is
   required to give efficacy to certain dispositions of
   property. --Wharton.
Syn: Deception; deceit; guile; craft; wile; sham; strife;
     circumvention; stratagem; trick; imposition; cheat. See
     {Deception}.