trick Hear it!

trick Definition

trick (trik)

noun

  1. an action or device designed to deceive, cheat, outwit, etc.; artifice; dodge; ruse; stratagem
    1. a mischievous or playful act; prank, practical joke, etc.
    2. a deception or illusion the light played a trick on my eyes
  3. a freakish, foolish, mean, or stupid act
  4. a clever or difficult act intended to amuse; specif.,
    1. an act of jugglery or sleight of hand; also, an illusion of the kind created by legerdemain
    2. an action, feat, or routine performed by an animal as a result of training
  5. any feat requiring skill
  6. the art or knack of doing something easily, skillfully, quickly, etc. the trick of making good pastry
  7. an expedient or convention of an art, craft, or trade to learn the tricks of the trade
  8. a personal habit or mannerism a trick of tugging at the ear
  9. a turn or round of duty or work; shift
  10. ☆ Informal a child or girl, esp. one viewed as cute or pretty
  11. Slang
    1. the act or an instance of performing sexual intercourse as a prostitute with a customer
    2. such a customer
  12. Card Games the cards played and won in a single round

Etymology: ME trik < NormFr trique < trikier < OFr trichier, to trick, cheat, prob. < VL *triccare, altered < ? LL tricare, to deceive, for L tricari, to make trouble < tricae, vexations, tricks < IE *treik- < base *ter-, to turn, rub > throw

transitive verb

to deceive or swindle

adjective

  1. having to do with or used for a trick or tricks
  2. that tricks
  3. apt to malfunction; of uncertain reliability a trick knee

trick Related Forms
trick′er noun
trick Idioms

do the trick

or turn the trick

Informal to bring about the desired result

not miss a trick

Informal to be very alert

trick out

or trick up

to dress up; deck; array

turn a trick

☆

Slang to have sex with a customer: said of a prostitute

trick Synonyms

trick

n.

  1. A deceit

    wile, casuistry, fraud, deception, ruse, cheat, cover, feint, hoax, artifice, decoy, trap, stratagem, intrigue, fabrication, double-dealing, forgery, fake, illusion, invention, subterfuge, distortion, delusion, ambush, snare, blind, evasion, plot, equivocation, concealment, treachery, swindle, imposture, feigning, impersonation, dissimulation, duplicity, pretense, falsehood, falsification, perjury, disguise, conspiracy, machination, circumvention, quibble, trickery, conundrum, beguiling, chicane, chicanery, humbug, simulacrum, maneuver, sham, counterfeit, gyp*, touch*, phoney*, come-on*, fast one*, dodge*, plant*, clip*, sucker*, deal*, con game*, bluff*, shakedown*, sell-out*, con*, funny business*, dirty work*, crooked deal*, front*, fakeroo*, gimmick*, suck-in*; see also lie 1.

    Antonyms honesty*, truth*, veracity. *

  2. A prank

    jest, sport, practical joke; see joke 1.

  3. A practical method or expedient

    skill, facility, know-how*; see ability 2, method 2.

  4. A round of cards

    deal, hand, round, shuffle.

trick is the common word for an action or device in which ingenuity and cunning are used to outwit others and implies deception either for fraudulent purposes or as a prank; ruse applies to that which is contrived as a blind for one's real intentions or for the truth her apparent illness was merely a ruse to gain time; a stratagem is a more or less complicated ruse, by means of which one attempts to outwit or entrap an enemy or antagonist military stratagems; maneuver, while specifically applicable to military tactics, in general use suggests the shrewd manipulation of persons or situations to suit one's purposes a political maneuver; artifice stresses inventiveness or ingenuity in the contrivance of an expedient, trick, etc. artifices employed to circumvent the tax laws; wile, often used in the plural, implies the use of allurements or beguilement to ensnare used all his wiles and cunning to close the deal

do<strong> or </strong>turn the trick

achieve the desired result, attain success, accomplish; see succeed 1.

trick Synonyms

trick

v.

dupe, outwit, fool; see cheat, deceive. See syn. study at cheat.

trick Usage Examples

Preposition: that

  • webmasters: There's a new trick that some webmasters use to get high rankings on Google.

Converse of object

  • perform: We learn how to perform stunning tricks using ordinary household objects.
  • miss: He doesn't miss a trick, He delights in every detail of your life.
  • do: I've been told -w should do the trick.
  • repeat: Let's try and repeat the trick for 2005, starting with that perennial favorite.

Adjective modifier

  • dirty: Scottish weather did its usual dirty trick of deteriorating overnight.
  • magic: Card Magic Video, Amazing PAL Learn many spectacular magic tricks using a deck of cards!
  • conjuring: The miracles of Jesus are not just bizarre conjuring tricks.
  • neat: There's none of the scenic touches or neat tricks.
  • clever: The " clever trick " to cancel parking tickets was eagerly read.
  • cruel: Cruel trick, " writes Carrie Dunn from across my desk, inviting all kinds of spurious Zorro based comment about flashing blades.

Modifies a noun

  • pony: But he is more than a one trick pony.
  • barry: Gamblers to almost card tricks barry be the excuse.

Noun used with modifier

  • hat: Keeping up the hat trick theme they will all have new releases out on 28th August.
  • conjuring: Logarithms - log tables - classic oldfashioned conjuring trick for doing hard sums like magic.
  • trump: I passed as South because of nice controls, hopefully a trump trick or a club ruff or two.
  • con: It is a con trick to use pension saver's funds to take risks Big Business itself refuses to take.
  • circus: What circus tricks offer the chance to embed science across the whole curriculum?
  • chip: On cbs's sports chip tricks the they lived in a paper to.

Preposition: of

  • trade: Children learned all the tricks of the circus trade at a family fun day.
trick Quotes

All fiction is for me a kind of magic and trickeryöa confidence trick, trying to make people believe something is true that isn't.

—Wilson, SirAngus FrankJohnstone

If he knew where he was going, it is not apparent from this distance. He fell down a great deal during this period, because of a trick he had of walking into himself.

—Thurber,James Grover

A conjuring trick with bones only proves that it is as clever as a conjuring trick with bones† A resuscitated corpse might be a resuscitated corpse and might be the sign of something, butthere isstill the questionof what it is the symbol of.

—Jenkins, David Edward

It's me Auntie Maggie's home-made remedy Guaranteed never to fail Now that's the stuff that will do the trick It's sold at ev'ry chemist for 'one and a kick'.

—Formby, George

Be just, my lovely swain, and do not take Freedoms you'll not to me allow; Or give Amynta so much freedom back That she may rove as well as you. Let us then love upon the honest square, Since interest neither have designed. For the sly gamester, who ne'er plays me fair, Must trick for trick expect to find.

—Behan, Brendan Francis

TheTrick Is to Keep Breathing.

—Galloway,Janice

That damnable woman's trick of heaping obligations on a man, of placing yourself so entirelyand helplesslyat his mercy that at last he dare not take a step without running to you for leave. I know a poor wretch whose one desire in life is to run away from his wife. She prevents him by threatening to throw herself in front of the engine of the train he leaves her in. That is what all women do. If we try to go where you do not want us to go there is no law to prevent us; but when we take the first step your breasts are under our foot as it descends: your bodies are under our wheels as we start. No woman shall ever enslave me in that way.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Any daily journalist will tell you that one of the most important secrets of his trade is the trick of making it appear that there is news when there is no news.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

—Masefield,John Edward

   When in doubt, win the trick.

—Hoyle, Edmond