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gimmick

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gim⋅mick

  [gim-ik]
–noun
1. an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.
2. a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal: An offer that good must have a gimmick in it somewhere.
3. a hidden mechanical device by which a magician works a trick or a gambler controls a game of chance.
4. Electronics Informal. a capacitor formed by intertwining two insulated wires.
–verb (used with object)
5. to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, esp. in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc. (often fol. by up): to gimmick up a sports car with chrome and racing stripes.
–verb (used without object)
6. to resort to gimmickry, esp. habitually.
Use gimmick in a Sentence
Origin:
1925–30, Americanism; orig. uncert.

Related forms:
gim⋅mick⋅er, noun
gim⋅mick⋅y, adjective

Synonyms:
1. stunt, plan, ruse, ploy; angle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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gim·mick   (gĭm'ĭk)   
n.  

    1. A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.

    2. An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget.

    3. An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick.

    4. A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch.

    1. An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick.

    2. A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch.

  3. A small object whose name does not come readily to mind.

tr.v.   gim·micked, gim·mick·ing, gim·micks

  1. To add gimmicks to; clutter with gadgets or attention-getting details. Often used with up.

  2. To change or affect by means of a gimmick.


[Origin unknown.]
gim'mick·y adj.
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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Word Origin & History

gimmick 
1926 (in Maine & Grant's "Wise-Crack Dictionary," which defines it as "a device used for making a fair game crooked"), Amer.Eng., perhaps an alteration of gimcrack, or an anagram of magic.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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