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trick - 6 dictionary results
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trick

  [trik] ,
Use trick in a Sentence
–noun
1. a crafty or underhanded device, maneuver, stratagem, or the like, intended to deceive or cheat; artifice; ruse; wile.
2. an optical illusion: It must have been some visual trick caused by the flickering candlelight.
3. a roguish or mischievous act; practical joke; prank: She likes to play tricks on her friends.
4. a mean, foolish, or childish action.
5. a clever or ingenious device or expedient; adroit technique: the tricks of the trade.
6. the art or knack of doing something skillfully: You seem to have mastered the trick of making others laugh.
7. a clever or dexterous feat intended to entertain, amuse, etc.: He taught his dog some amazing tricks.
8. a feat of magic or legerdemain: card tricks.
9. a behavioral peculiarity; trait; habit; mannerism.
10. a period of duty or turn; stint; tour of duty: I relieved the pilot after he had completed his trick at the wheel.
11. Cards.
a. the group or set of cards played and won in one round.
b. a point or scoring unit.
c. a card that is a potential winner. Compare honor trick.
12. Informal. a child or young girl: a pretty little trick.
13. Slang.
a. a prostitute's customer.
b. a sexual act between a prostitute and a customer.
14. Heraldry.
a. a preliminary sketch of a coat of arms.
b. engraver's trick.
–adjective
15. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or involving tricks: trick shooting.
16. designed or used for tricks: a trick chair.
17. (of a joint) inclined to stiffen or weaken suddenly and unexpectedly: a trick shoulder.
–verb (used with object)
18. to deceive by trickery.
19. Heraldry. to indicate the tinctures of (a coat of arms) with engraver's tricks.
20. to cheat or swindle (usually fol. by out of): to trick someone out of an inheritance.
21. to beguile by trickery (usually fol. by into).
–verb (used without object)
22. to practice trickery or deception; cheat.
23. to play tricks; trifle (usually fol. by with).
24. Slang. to engage in sexual acts for hire.
—Verb phrase
25. trick out, Informal. to embellish or adorn with or as if with ornaments or other attention-getting devices.
—Idioms
26. do or turn the trick, to achieve the desired effect or result: Another turn of the pliers should do the trick.
27. turn a trick, Slang. (of a prostitute) to engage in a sexual act with a customer.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME trik (n.) < ONF trique deceit, deriv. of trikier to deceive < VL *triccāre, for L trīcārī to play tricks

Related forms:
tricker, noun
trick⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. deception. Trick, artifice, ruse, stratagem, wile are terms for crafty or cunning devices that are intended to deceive. Trick, the general term, refers usually to an underhanded act designed to cheat someone, but it sometimes refers merely to a pleasurable deceiving of the senses: to win by a trick. Like trick, but to a greater degree, artifice emphasizes the cleverness, ingenuity, or cunning with which the proceeding is devised: an artifice of diabolical ingenuity. Ruse and stratagem emphasize the purpose for which the trick is designed; ruse is the more general term of the two, and stratagem sometimes implies a more elaborate procedure or a military application: He gained entrance by a ruse. His stratagem gave them command of the hill. Wile emphasizes the disarming effect of the trick upon those who are deceived: His wiles charmed them into trusting him. 18. See cheat.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To trick
trick   (trĭk)   
n.  
  1. An act or procedure intended to achieve an end by deceptive or fraudulent means. See Synonyms at wile.
  2. A mischievous action; a prank.
  3. A stupid, disgraceful, or childish act or performance.
    1. A peculiar trait or characteristic; a mannerism: "Mimicry is the trick by which a moth or other defenseless insect comes to look like a wasp" (Marston Bates).
    2. A peculiar event with unexpected, often deceptive results: "One of history's cruelest tricks is to take words that sounded good at the time and make them sound pretty stupid" (David Owen).
    3. A deceptive or illusive appearance; an illusion: a trick of sunlight.
    4. A special skill; a knack: Is there a trick to getting this window to stay up?
    5. A convention or specialized skill peculiar to a particular field of activity: learned the tricks of the winemaking trade.
    6. All the cards played in a single round, one from each player.
    7. One such round.
    8. A period or turn of duty, as at the helm of a ship.
    9. Slang A prison term.
    10. An act of prostitution.
    11. A prostitute's customer.
    12. A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
    1. A special skill; a knack: Is there a trick to getting this window to stay up?
    2. A convention or specialized skill peculiar to a particular field of activity: learned the tricks of the winemaking trade.
    3. All the cards played in a single round, one from each player.
    4. One such round.
    5. A period or turn of duty, as at the helm of a ship.
    6. Slang A prison term.
    7. An act of prostitution.
    8. A prostitute's customer.
    9. A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
  6. A feat of magic or legerdemain.
  7. A difficult, dexterous, or clever act designed to amuse.
  8. Games
    1. All the cards played in a single round, one from each player.
    2. One such round.
    3. A period or turn of duty, as at the helm of a ship.
    4. Slang A prison term.
    5. An act of prostitution.
    6. A prostitute's customer.
    7. A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
    1. A period or turn of duty, as at the helm of a ship.
    2. Slang A prison term.
    3. An act of prostitution.
    4. A prostitute's customer.
    5. A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
  10. Slang
    1. An act of prostitution.
    2. A prostitute's customer.
    3. A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
  11. Slang A robbery or theft.
tr. & intr.v.   tricked, trick·ing, tricks
To cheat or deceive or to practice trickery or deception.
adj.  
  1. Of, relating to, or involving tricks.
  2. Capable of performing tricks: a trick dog.
  3. Designed or made for doing a trick or tricks: trick cards; trick dice.
  4. Weak, defective, or liable to fail: a trick knee.
Phrasal Verb(s):
trick out/up Informal To ornament or adorn, often garishly: was all tricked out in beads and fringe.

Idiom(s):
do/turn the trickTo bring about the desired result.

Idiom(s):
how's tricks Informal Used to make a friendly inquiry about a person or that person's affairs.

Idiom(s):
not miss a trickTo be extremely alert: The teacher was known for not missing a trick.

[Middle English trik, from Old North French trique, from trikier, to deceive, probably from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Latin trīcārī, to play tricks, from trīcae, tricks.]
trick'er 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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Trick

Trick\, n. [D. trek a pull, or drawing, a trick, trekken to draw; akin to LG. trekken, MHG. trecken, trechen, Dan. tr[ae]kke, and OFries. trekka. Cf. Track, Trachery, Trig, a., Trigger.]

1. An artifice or stratagem; a cunning contrivance; a sly procedure, usually with a dishonest intent; as, a trick in trade.

He comes to me for counsel, and I show him a trick. --South.

I know a trick worth two of that. --Shak.

2. A sly, dexterous, or ingenious procedure fitted to puzzle or amuse; as, a bear's tricks; a juggler's tricks.

3. Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank; as, the tricks of boys. --Prior.

4. A particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait; as, a trick of drumming with the fingers; a trick of frowning.

The trick of that voice I do well remember. --Shak.

He hath a trick of C[oe]ur de Lion's face. --Shak.

5. A knot, braid, or plait of hair. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.

6. (Card Playing) The whole number of cards played in one round, and consisting of as many cards as there are players.

On one nice trick depends the general fate. --Pope.

7. (Naut.) A turn; specifically, the spell of a sailor at the helm, -- usually two hours.

8. A toy; a trifle; a plaything. [Obs.] --Shak.

Syn: Stratagem; wile; fraud; cheat; juggle; finesse; sleight; deception; imposture; delusion; imposition.

Trick

Trick\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tricked; p. pr. & vb. n. Tricking.]

1. To deceive by cunning or artifice; to impose on; to defraud; to cheat; as, to trick another in the sale of a horse.

2. To dress; to decorate; to set off; to adorn fantastically; -- often followed by up, off, or out. " Trick her off in air." --Pope.

People lavish it profusely in tricking up their children in fine clothes, and yet starve their minds. --Locke.

They are simple, but majestic, records of the feelings of the poet; as little tricked out for the public eye as his diary would have been. --Macaulay.

3. To draw in outline, as with a pen; to delineate or distinguish without color, as arms, etc., in heraldry.

They forget that they are in the statutes: . . . there they are tricked, they and their pedigrees. --B. Jonson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : trick
Spanish: truco, trampa, engaño,
German: der Trick,
Japanese: たくらみ
More Translations »

trick  (n.)
c.1412, "a cheat, a mean ruse," from O.N.Fr. trique "trick, deceit, treachery, cheating," from trikier "to deceive, to cheat," variant of O.Fr. trichier, probably from V.L. *triccare, from L. tricari "be evasive, shuffle," from tricæ "trifles, nonsense, a tangle of difficulties." Meaning "a roguish prank" is recorded from 1590; sense of "the art of doing something" is first attested 1611. The verb is first attested 1595. An earlier sense of "to dress, adorn" (c.1500) is perhaps a different word entirely. Meaning "prostitute's client" is first attested 1915; earlier it was U.S. slang for "a robbery" (1865). Trickery is first attested 1800; tricky is 1786 (earlier tricksy, 1596); trickster is from 1711. Trick-or-treat is recorded from 1947.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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trick

In addition to the idioms beginning with trick, also see bag of tricks; confidence game (trick); dirty tricks; do the trick; hat trick; how's tricks; not miss a trick; teach an old dog new tricks; that does it (the trick); turn a trick; up to one's old tricks.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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