| 释义 |
▪ I. thimblerig, n.|ˈθɪmb(ə)lrɪg|
[f. thimble + rig n.5 2; lit. ‘thimble-trick’.]
1. A swindling game usually played with three thimbles (see thimble 2 c) and a pea which was ostensibly placed under one of them; the sharper then challenging the bystanders to guess under which the pea had been placed, and to bet on their choice; a cheat similar to the three-card trick.
1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 768 An unfair game known among the frequenters of races and fairs by the name of ‘the thimble rig’. 1836T. Hook G. Gurney vii, I will start alone, and appear to know no more of you, than one of the cads of the thimble-rig knows of the pea-holder. 1856J. D. Chambers Strictures on Judgm. in Westerton v. Liddell 139 note, The manipulations of a sharper with cups and balls on his gambling table, commonly called thimblerig. 1893Leland Mem. I. 13.
attrib. and Comb.1834Littleton in Hansard's Parl. Deb. 4 July, XXIV. 1206 His right hon. friend (Mr. Stanley)..had chosen to describe him (Mr. Littleton) as a thimble⁓rig player, in consequence of the changes that he had made in the clauses of that Bill. 1856T. A. Trollope Girlhd. Cath. de Med. Notes 352 A good deal of confusion as to the dates of these thimblerig-like transactions exists in the narratives of the historians. 1886C. E. Pascoe London of To-day xviii. (ed. 3) 157 Epsom Downs... There are..tumblers, jugglers, boxers, thimble-rig men.
2. = thimblerigger.
1839Fraser's Mag. XX. 355 Greatly applauded by all the thimblerigs of the fauxbourgs.
▪ II. ˈthimblerig, v.
[f. prec.: app. first used in vbl. n. and pr. pple.]
intr. To practise the cheat of the thimblerig; also fig. to cheat in a juggling manner or as with sleight of hand. b. trans. To manipulate (a matter or thing) in this manner. So ˈthimblerigged |-rɪgd| ppl. a., duped by the game of thimblerig; disturbed or affected by thimblerigging, as a market; = rigged ppl. a.2; ˈthimblerigging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1839Thackeray Catherine i, Don't let us have any juggling and thimblerigging with virtue and vice. 1840― George Cruikshank Wks. 1900 XIII. 310 The different degrees of rascality, as exhibited in each face of the thimblerigging trio. Ibid., Is any man so blind that he cannot see the exact face that is writhing under the thimblerigged hero's hat? 1887Frith Autobiog. I. xxi. 271 Gambling tents and thimble-rigging..had not then been stopped by the police. 1889Mivart Orig. Hum. Reason 92 That ‘intellectual thimble-rigging’ which all men of the sensist school..must perform. 1892Labour Commission Gloss., Thimblerigged, an expression in general use descriptive of speculative operations in the stock, produce, or other markets by combination for other than legitimate trade or market requirements. 1899Daily News 31 Jan. 5/3 M. Lebret passes quickly over the legal aspect of the case—thimblerigs it so to speak. |