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finagle

 - 4 dictionary results

fi⋅na⋅gle

  [fi-ney-guhl] verb, -gled, -gling.
Use finagle in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to trick, swindle, or cheat (a person) (often fol. by out of): He finagled the backers out of a fortune.
2. to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation: to finagle an assignment to the Membership Committee.
–verb (used without object)
3. to practice deception or fraud; scheme.
Also, fenagle.

Origin:
1925–30, Americanism; finaig- (var. of fainaigue ) + -le

Related forms:
fi⋅na⋅gler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To finagle
fi·na·gle   (fə-nā'gəl)   
v.   fi·na·gled, fi·na·gling, fi·na·gles Informal

v.   tr.

  1. To obtain or achieve by indirect, usually deceitful methods: finagle a day off from work.

  2. To cheat; swindle: shady stockbrokers who finagle their clients out of fortunes.

v.   intr.
To use crafty, deceitful methods.

[Probably from dialectal fainaigue, to cheat.]
fi·na'gler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
finagle [fɪˈneglæ] and [fəˈnɪglæ]

and fanigle
  1. in.
    to plot and plan; to conspire; to arrange (something). : He's pretty good at finagling.
  2. tv.
    to acquire something through conniving. : Can I finagle a buck from you?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

finagle 
1926, Amer.Eng., possibly a variant of Eng. dial. fuinaigue "to cheat or renege" (at cards), of unknown origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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