trick
/ˈtɹɪk/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms tricks tricking tricked tricker trickest
- noun Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle. “It was just a trick to say that the house was underpriced.”
- noun A single element of a magician's (or any variety entertainer's) act; a magic trick. “And for my next trick, I will pull a wombat out of a duffel bag.”
- noun An entertaining difficult physical action. “That's a nice skateboard, but can you do any tricks on it?”
- noun An effective, clever or quick way of doing something. “tricks of the trade; what's the trick of getting this chair to fold up?”
- noun Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank. “the tricks of boys”
- noun (dated) A particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait. “a trick of drumming with the fingers; a trick of frowning”
- noun A knot, braid, or plait of hair.
- noun (card games) A sequence in which each player plays a card and a winning play is determined. “I was able to take the second trick with the queen of hearts.”
- verb (transitive) To fool; to cause to believe something untrue; to deceive. “You tried to trick me when you said that house was underpriced.”
- verb (heraldry) To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).
- verb To dress; to decorate; to adorn fantastically; often followed by up, off, or out.
- verb To engage in prostitution or casual sex.
- adjective Involving trickery or deception. “trick photography”
- adjective Able to perform tricks. “A trick pony”
- adjective Defective or unreliable. “a trick knee”
- adjective (chiefly US, slang) Stylish or cool. “Wow, your new sportscar is so trick.”
Synonyms
artifice illusion magic trick sleight of hand john all-nighter curb crawler fare gonk jane jockey kerb crawler monger muttonmonger punter score short-timer solicitor steamer wapping cove fast one antic joke prank caper put-on conjuring trick magic legerdemain conjuration
Etymology
From Middle English trikke, from Old Northern French trique (related to Old French trichier (“to defraud, act dishonestly, conceal, deceive, cheat”); > modern French tricher), itself possibly from Middle High German trechen (“to launch a shot at, play a trick on”), or one of its derivatives (e.g. Middle High German ūftrechen (“to do something to someone, hurt someone”), vertrechen (“to conceal, get over on someone”), zuotrechen (“to obtain falsely or deceitfully, wangle, finagle”), etc.); yet the Old French verb is equally likely to be derived from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Late Latin tricāre, from Latin trīcor, trīcārī (“dodge, search for detours; haggle, quibble”).
The term has been connected to Middle Dutch treck, trec (“draw, line, desire, game move, cord, stratagem, ruse, trick”), from Middle Dutch trekken, trēken (“to pull, place, put, move”), from Old Dutch *trekken, *trekan (“to move, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *trakjaną, *trekaną (“to drag, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”). If they are related, trick would be cognate with Low German trekken, Middle High German trecken, trechen, Danish trække, and Old Frisian trekka, Romanian truc and other Romance languages.
Compare track, treachery, trig, and trigger.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An artifice or stratagem; a cunning contrivance; a sly procedure, usually with a dishonest intent; as, a trick in trade. tricks of the trade mean simply specialized knowledge, in a good or neutral sense.
- noun A sly, dexterous, or ingenious procedure fitted to puzzle or amuse; as, a bear's tricks; a juggler's tricks.
- verb To deceive by cunning or artifice; to impose on; to defraud; to cheat; as, to trick another in the sale of a horse.
- verb To dress; to decorate; to set off; to adorn fantastically; --often followed by up, off, or out. " Trick her off in air." Pope.
Etymology [D. trek a pull, or drawing, a trick, trekken to draw; akin to LG. trekken, MHG. trecken, trechen, Dan. trække, and OFries. trekka. Cf. Track, Trachery, Trig, a., Trigger.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trick”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details