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WordWealth:
cumshaw
cum·shaw
 ,
n.
a present; gratuity; tip.
[1810–20; < dial. Chin (Xiamen)
kam si ā,
equiv. to Chin gân xič grateful thanks]
(Random
House Webster's Unabridged)
There are
now strict rules against payoffs, and senior managers must sign
monthly statements that all sales have been made . . . 'with no
cumshaw whatsoever.'" ——
Louis Kraar; Fortune; Oct 1977
Did you know? (Merriam-Webster)
It was probably British Navy personnel who first picked up "cumshaw"
in Chinese ports, during the First Opium War of 1839–42. "Cumshaw" is
from a word that means "grateful thanks" in the dialect of Xiamen, a
port in southeast China. (Rendered "kam sia" in the Pinyin system of
romanizing Chinese words, it’s still a common expression used by about
one billion Chinese to show grateful thankfulness.) Apparently,
sailors heard it from the beggars who hung around the ports, and
mistook it as the word for a handout. Since then, U.S. sailors have
given "cumshaw" its own unique application, for something obtained
through unofficial means (whether deviously or simply ingeniously).
Outside of naval circles, meanings of "cumshaw" range from a harmless
gratuity to bending the rules a little to outright bribery.
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