cahoots [E19th] To be in cahoots with someone is to be working in collusion with them. It is an American expression, recorded in the early 19th century in the neutral sense of ‘in league or partnership’. Nowadays the expression invariably suggests dishonesty and conspiracy. Where cahoots comes from is uncertain. It might derive from the French word cahute, meaning ‘a hut or cabin’, with the idea of plotting together in an intimate closed environment. Or it may be an alteration of cohort (see courteous) based on the notion of a group of people working closely together.