Shining On

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Chapman's slang dictionary, 2nd ed., shows both:

"Shine someone on" (sense 1) = "to reject and ignore someone; abandon
someone" [also "shine" = "to reject; disregard; avoid"].

"Shine someone on" (sense 2) = "to deceive someone; beguile".

I wonder how the development went semantically. Chapman takes sense 1 as
possibly originally referring to "mooning" someone (turning one's back on
someone). I suppose sense 2 could be independently derived from the hunting
practice of shining deer (baffling the animal with a bright light in order
to kill it at close range) (just my casual speculation). I don't know
exactly why the "on" in either case; maybe in sense 2 it could be inherited
from "put on" or "lead on"?

-- Doug Wilson