1
a shill
名词用法，指受雇装作顾客或参与者以诱使他人购买或下注的人。
The auction house planted a shill in the audience to push up bids.
拍卖行在观众中安插了一个托儿来抬高出价。
托儿；诱饵
先理解核心含义，再看它在真实句子里的用法。
托儿；诱饵
a person who pretends to be an enthusiastic customer in order to attract or encourage other people to buy something or take part in something
The auction house planted a shill in the audience to push up bids.
拍卖行在观众中安插了一个托儿来抬高出价。
受雇假装公正地推销产品的人。
A person paid to endorse a product while pretending to be impartial.
拍卖或赌博中骗局的同伙,如卖家的托儿,出价抬高价格。
An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game, such as an accomplice of the seller who bids to drive up the price.
赌场中的庄家玩家。
A house player in a casino.
The market trader planted a shill among the crowd to make people think the fruit was in high demand.
市场小贩在人群中安排了一个托儿，让大家以为这些水果很抢手。
The shill in the audience laughed loudly at the comedian's jokes to get everyone else to laugh too.
观众席上的那个托儿在喜剧演员讲笑话时大笑，好让其他人也跟着笑。
The startup hired a shill to post enthusiastic comments about its app in online forums.
这家初创公司雇了一个托儿，在在线论坛上为它的应用程序发布热情洋溢的评论。
名词用法，指受雇装作顾客或参与者以诱使他人购买或下注的人。
The auction house planted a shill in the audience to push up bids.
拍卖行在观众中安插了一个托儿来抬高出价。
动词用法，意为“为……当托儿”，通常用介词 for 引出所服务的人或机构。
He shilled for the new phone brand, posting fake reviews online.
他为那个新手机品牌当托儿，在网上发虚假评论。
Not this
He is shill in the card game.
Use this
He is a shill in the card game.
shill 作名词表示“托儿”时是可数名词，前面需要不定冠词 a。中文没有冠词，容易漏掉 a，加上后句子才完整自然。
Not this
She shilled the shoes in the market.
Use this
She shilled for the shoes in the market.
动词 shill 是不及物动词，表示“为……当托儿”时要用介词 for 引出对象，不能直接接宾语。中文“给……当托儿”的语序导致学习者容易漏掉 for。
Focus on the distinctions below. Other candidates are kept compact until a reliable usage note is available.
为…当托儿；为…作虚假宣传
He was hired to shill for the new restaurant.
他受雇为新餐馆当托儿。
托儿投标人（拍卖中故意抬价的虚假出价人）
The auction was ruined by shill bidders.
拍卖被托儿投标人搅乱了。
雇来的托儿
The company used paid shills to boost its ratings.
该公司雇托儿来提高评分。
充当托儿；扮作顾客引诱他人
She acted as a shill to draw in real customers.
她充当托儿以吸引真正顾客。
Use shill naturally, then get feedback on meaning, tone, grammar, and phrasing.
Revisit a common error or keep this word in your review list.
记忆：shill 以 sh 开头，像 show（作秀）——托儿就是当众作秀、假扮顾客的人。
语域：informal 常见场景：街边摊位、网络评论区、拍卖会 shill 通常用于非正式场合，常带贬义，指被安排假装成满意顾客来吸引别人的人，比如在街边摊位、网络评论区或拍卖会中；也可作动词，意思是“当托儿”。正式文体中较少使用。
作名词时指“托儿”，即假扮成热情顾客诱使他人参与的人；作动词时指充当这种角色。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.