trick

Meaning

Noun

1. Something designed to fool or swindle.
2. A single element of a magician's (or any variety entertainer's) act; a magic trick.
3. An entertaining difficult physical action.
4. An effective, clever or quick way of doing something.
5. Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank.
6. A particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait.
7. A knot, braid, or plait of hair.
8. A sequence in which each player plays a card and a winning play is determined.
9. (slang) A sex act, chiefly one performed for payment; an act of prostitution.
10. (slang) A customer or client of a prostitute.
11. (slang) A term of abuse.
12. A daily period of work, especially in shift-based jobs.
13. A sailor's spell of work at the helm, usually two hours long.
14. (obsolete) A toy; a trifle; a plaything.
15. A representation of arms that is drawn as an outline with labels to indicate colors.

Verb

1. To fool; to cause to believe something untrue; to deceive.
2. To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).
3. To dress; to decorate; to adorn fantastically; often followed by up, off, or out.
4. To engage in prostitution or casual sex.

Adj

1. Involving trickery or deception.
2. Able to perform tricks.
3. Defective or unreliable.
4. (slang) Stylish or cool.

Concepts

trick

cheat

deceive

ruse

stratagem

artifice

deception

fool

swindle

fraud

dupe

deceit

prank

con

trickery

hoax

defraud

hoodwink

device

joke

delude

mislead

cunning

cheating

bamboozle

dodge

wile

scheme

bilk

wiles

mischief

subterfuge

craft

trap

plot

strategy

finesse

pretence

manoeuvre

take in

bluff

outwit

practical joke

secret

tactics

technique

ploy

scam

escapade

canard

decoy

gull

sham

intrigue

stunt

knack

game

betray

magic

jest

double-cross

gyp

tease

maneuver

caper

conjuring trick

imposition

chicanery

mystify

beguile

juggle

plan

contrivance

cajole

skill

magic trick

illusion

put-on

john

whoremaster

lie

freak

rook

finagle

jugglery

guile

means

way

entice

banter

catch

artfulness

slyness

talent

feint

fox

jape

sleight

conjuration

legerdemain

thaumaturgy

fast one

antic

flim-flam

play tricks

whoremonger

fake

humbug

imposture

spoof

diddle

outsmart

play

screw

sleight of hand

twist

gadget

disappoint

craftiness

fleece

victimize

mechanism

conspiracy

feat

work

tactic

move

strategem

kid

dirty trick

deceitfulness

euchre

gimmick

monkey business

jockey

rig

fob

play a joke on

play a trick on

pull a fast one on

blind

chouse

have

management

shift

resort

expedient

lie to

lasso

delusion

chisel

circumvent

gouge

welch

roguery

toy

quirk

habit

action

fun

play a trick

befool

snare

distort

pervert

persuade

lure

teasing

art

method

doodad

flat car

flatcar

thing

thingamajig

thingy

whatchamacallit

be unfaithful

be unfaithful to

cuckold

foxiness

wiliness

con game

exploit

charm

conjure

chicane

sinister design

design

make-believe

risky attempt

craftsmanship

workmanship

criminal technique

modus operandi

cause

inside story

source

evil design

sharp practice

sharp practise

evil scheme

challenge

commencement

half finished

scale

set up

cleverness

cruel thing

sinful act

deception tactics

act

ingenious device

goad

pull one’s leg

fawn on

flatter

wheedle

play the fool with someone

corrupt

embezzle

misappropriate

peculate

pilfer

thieve

swindleable

tact

deviousness

hold

subtleness

artful

tip

hood wink

raise a diversion

sell-out

collusion

complicity

connivance

gambit

hanky-panky

sucker

take

flourish

hitch

hook

snag

squiggle

forgery

deciet

playing tricks

use art

use trickery

cog

curve

fetch

flam

fly

hornswoggle

jig

maze

nick

pass

policy

sharp

shuffle

skit

snap

evasion

trinket

bauble

knick-knack

robbery

theft

quality

unreliable

defective

deck

vagrancy

excuse

special skill

speciality

pursue tortuous course

beguilement

circumvention

fallacy

gammon

humbuggery

jiggery pokery

swindling

impose

shave

shortchange

crookedness

knavery

roguishness

shenanigan

skuldyggery

skullduggery

trappiness

trickiness

trickishness

basin

bay

gulf

lap

loch

sinus

vagina

bite

have on

hocus

inveigle

dido

sport

playing

claptrap

contraption

ruff

special techniques

fashion

way of behavior

treason

outmaneuver

trickster

ambush

break faith with

seek

deed

tempt

enthusiasm

vigour

élan

strike

deke

cozen

fiddle

gip

goldbrick

mulct

shark

short-change

whipsaw

cozenage

indirection

rip-off

setup

snow job

swiz

take-in

bunco

cod

lark

leg-pull

leg-pulling

waggery

flimflam

thimblerig

stitch

beat

spell

ride

clever

juggling

fuck

had

go

go around

spin around

surround

turn around

deceitful

make a fool of

bring down

manipulate

ensnare

deceive e.o

seduce

error

horseplay

humour

drive

roll

wheel

do

pinch

steal

sting

fix

remedy

solution

crook

custom

dupery

hokey-pokey

treachery

wangle

dexterity

proficiency

cum-savvy

hocus-pocus

cross

say goodbye

separate

coaxing

new pattern

variety

mischievous

acrobatics

advice

intelligence

tell lies

abandon

forsake

ability

acting

performance

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɹɪk/

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.