To have been hoodwinked means to have been put at a disadvantage.
The term “hoodwinked” derives from early children’s games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Blind Man’s Bluff, where someone was either blindfolded or hooded and required to complete a task without being able to see.
Muggers also employed the hood to blind and rob innocent victims on the street.
Wink was really a half-wink, a reference to the blind point when the eye is covered by the lid.
We say that someone tricked has been “hoodwinked”.
