| 释义 |
▪ I. trick, n.|trɪk|
Forms: 5–6 trik, pl. trikkes, 6–7 tricke, 6– trick, (7 trike).
[In sense 1, a. OF. trique, Picard and Norman form of triche deceit, treachery, cheating, Norm. dial. trique trick (Moisy), going with, and prob. verbal n. from, trikier, Norm.-Picard form of trichier, trechier, trecier to deceive, cheat, mod.F. tricher = Prov. trichar, triquar, It. triccare to cheat; cf. also treche v., treacher, etc. Both n. and vb. have in Eng. had developments of signification unknown to F. triche and tricher.
The origin of the Romanic word is disputed. It was held by Diez to be of German origin; he compared Du. trek ‘drawing, pull’, which has also the sense ‘trick, cunning’. But most Romanic scholars refer it to a late L. or Com. Rom. *triccāre, alteration of trīcāre, trīcarī, ‘to trifle, play tricks’, f. trīcæ ‘trifles, toys’, also ‘subterfuges, quirks, wiles, tricks’: see Storm in Romania V. 172, Ulrich in Zeitschr. f. Rom. Phil. IX. 566.]
I.
1. a. A crafty or fraudulent device of a mean or base kind; an artifice to deceive or cheat; a stratagem, ruse, wile; esp. in phrase to play (show) one a trick, to put a trick or tricks upon: see play v. 9, put v.1 23 d, and cf. sense 2.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2286 Of suche vnknyghtly trikkes he nat roghte. 1560Rolland Seven Sag. 82 Quha can excuse..Sic ane fals trik sa trymlie playit to him? 1570Levins Manip. 120/23 A Trick, facinus. 1588Greene Pandosto (1607) 4 Vnder the shape of a friend to shew him the tricke of a foe. 1622in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1908) II. 138 [Watching their opportunity] to put a tricke uppon us. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Ad Sect. xii. 54 Let every man..deale with justice, noblenesse, and sincerity..without trickes and stratagems. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 350 Such..Sayings..As for Instance,..do not put Tricks upon Travellers. c1740Carey God save the King ii, Frustrate their knavish tricks! 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 150 Ashamed, as of a silly deceitful trick. 1842Tennyson Lady Clare 73 Play me no tricks. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 347 He was again at his old tricks [O.E. Chron. an. 1003 his ealdan wrenceas]. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lviii. 404 Public opinion, deterring even bad men from the tricks to which they are prone.
b. Without article: Trickery, fraud. rare.
1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 78 His word was not always to be depended on..he would now and then shuffle, and resort to trick.
c. An illusory or deceptive appearance; a semblance, sham. ? arch. or Obs.
1592Kyd Sp. Trag. iii. xii, Art thou not sometimes mad? Is there no trickes that comes before thine eies? 1781Cowper Conversation 782 And all her love of God..A trick upon the canvass, painted flame. 1856Whittier Panorama 207 In this poor trick of paint You see the semblance, incomplete and faint, Of the two-fronted Future.
d. trick of (or o') (the) loop, a cheating game; = fast and loose a, strap-game s.v. strap n. 18. Also fig. Anglo-Irish.
1886M. B. Buckley Diary of Tour in Amer. 16 The thimble-rigger and trick-o'-loop man are nowhere to be found. 1907J. M. Synge Playboy of Western World iii. 57 And he after bringing bankrupt ruin on the roulette man, and the trick-o'-the-loop man. 1922Joyce Ulysses 318 Norman W. Tupper bouncing in with his peashooter just in time to be late after she [sc. his wife] doing the trick of the loop with officer Taylor. 1974Listener 21 Feb. 239/1 Their cities were..crowded..with pilgrims, curiosity-mongers, refugees from justice and trick-of-the-loop men [in medieval Ireland].
2. a. A freakish or mischievous act; a roguish prank; a frolic; a piece of roguery or foolery; a hoax, practical joke.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 80 Or I shall breake that merrie sconce of yours That stands on tricks, when I am vndispos'd. 1605Tryall Chev. v. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 346 That's a tricke..to mocke an Ape. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 61 These Buffoons are always playing some foolish Tricks amongst themselves to make him laugh. 1796F. Burney Camilla III. 252 If any one plays their tricks upon me, they shall pay for their fun. 1846Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 367 Fortune has played me such a cruel trick this day. 1888Pall Mall G. 10 Oct. 4/1 If they were more numerous they could afford to play tricks.
b. A capricious, foolish, or stupid act; a thing done without full thought or consideration. Usually contemptuous or depreciative.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 43 Did'st thou euer see me doe such a tricke? 1598― Merry W. ii. ii. 117 That were a tricke indeed! 1603― Meas. for M. ii. ii. 121 Proud man, Drest in a little briefe authoritie..Plaies such phantastique tricks before high heauen As makes the Angels weepe. 1693Congreve Old Bach. iv. v, I hope you don't mean to forsake it; that will be but a kind of a mongrel cur's trick. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 115 It were but a fool's trick to die for conscience.
c. trick or treat, a traditional formula used at Hallowe'en by children who call on houses threatening to play a trick unless given a treat or present; also as n., this practice. Hence trick-or-treating vbl. n. and ppl. adj. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1947Amer. Home Oct. 150/2 The household larder needs to be well stocked on October 31, because, from dusk on, the doorbell rings, bright eyes peer through crazy-looking masks, and childish voices in ghostlike tones squeal, croak, or whisper, ‘Trick or Treat!’ 1950Sun (Baltimore) 31 Oct. 12/1 So let the kids go out tonight and have a grand time with their masquerading and trick-or-treating. 1954Ibid. 22 Oct. 18/4 Now that the ‘Trick or Treat’ season is upon us, let us hope that thoughtful parents will discourage the practice. 1968Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 31 Oct. (1970) 731 He and his mother had stopped by the office on their way to ‘trick or treating’ at some friends' houses. 1973M. R. Crowell Greener Pastures 64 Trick-or-treat begins at Grandma Latimer's down the road in the little green house. 1974New Yorker 25 Feb. 112/2 Like a horde of trick-or-treating children who have suddenly been turned middle-aged and paunchy by a wicked witch. 1982Daily Tel. 29 Oct. 3/1 A tradition of allowing children out on Halloween ‘trick-or-treat’ expeditions.
3. A clever or adroit expedient, device, or contrivance; a ‘dexterous artifice’ (J.); a ‘dodge’. bag of tricks: see bag n. 18.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 123 Gather the lowest, and leauing the top, Shall teach thee a trick, for to double thy crop. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 466 Som Dick That..knowes the trick To make my Lady laugh. 1618Bolton Florus (1636) 76 There also, the Carthaginians vented another new trick of their trade. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 307 This was a meere tricke of the Painter. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 107 (Eloquence) The moderns..reject with disdain all those rhetorical tricks. 1815Jane Austen Emma xvi, Making..a trick of what ought to be simple. 1896Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 21 Nov. 7/3 The novelist..knows the tricks of his trade.
4. The art, knack, or faculty of doing something skilfully or successfully. ? arch.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 86 Nature prompts them In simple and lowe things, to Prince it, much Beyond the tricke of others. 1667Pepys Diary 5 Apr., Several that had got ground..for charity, to build sheds on, had got the trick presently to sell that for 60l. which did not cost them 20l. 1825Scott Talism. xxvii, Thou art even matchless at the trick of the sword. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. ii, Thet was right smart fer a passenger. There's more trick to it in a sea-way.
5. a. A feat of dexterity or skill, intended to surprise or amuse; a piece of jugglery or legerdemain.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 24 A iugling tricke, to be secretly open. 1697Dryden æneid Ded., Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 201 Like Merry-Andrew on the low rope, copying lubberly the same tricks which his master is so dexterously performing on the high. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 56 You have more Tricks than a Dancing Bear. 1848Thackeray Lett. 28 July, The wizard..asked them..if they didn't like a trick he had just performed.
b. A robbery, theft; chiefly in phr. to turn a trick, to commit a successful robbery or theft. U.S. slang.
1865Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar & Pickpocket xxvii. 94/2 Directly he had done the trick he ‘namased’ with his booty. 1904‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 254/1 Trick, a theft. Ibid. 258/1 Turning a trick, accomplishing a theft. 1904H. Hapgood Autobiogr. of Thief v. 104, I am hounded for the old trick; and the detectives are looking everywhere for these negotiable bonds. 1926Flynn's 30 Jan. 843/1 Ewing was a thief, who..had settled in Chicago... He did not ply his trade here, but after ‘turning a trick’ outside of the city, would return to Chicago to plan the next excursion into the country. 1935Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. XXX. 365 Trick, go on a, to commit a robbery. 1956[see score n. 15 c]. 1979D. MacKenzie Raven settles Score 70 Campbell's claim was that he hadn't turned a trick in a year but the money had to be coming in from somewhere.
c. In Negro folk-magic or hoodoo: a spell cast on a person; an object used to ‘conjure’ a person or put him under a spell. Cf. trick-doctor, sense 14 below.
1893[see door-stone s.v. door 8]. 1895A. M. Bacon in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 367/1 Either after or before the cure of the patient is well under way, the doctor will make an effort to find the ‘trick’ or ‘conjure’ and to identify the miscreant who has caused the trouble. 1962[see root n.1 3 c]. 1966D. J. Crowley I could talk Old-Story Good ii. 17 Stories about the return of spirits, murder or curing through obeah, love-potions, ‘tricks’ (aggressive magic) and ‘guards’ (protective charms) are all traditional in theme. 1977J. Dillard Lexicon Black Eng. vii. 119 The conjure doctor..is involved in the performance of tricks. To trick the victim is the frequently recorded phrase.
6. concr.
†a. Something devised or contrived; a clever contrivance or invention. Obs. rare.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V 48 b, Sence that tyme, they haue imagined caltrappes, harowes and other newe trickes. 1601B. Jonson Ev. Man in his Hum. (Qo.) ii. iii, This brasse varnish being washt off, and three or foure other tricks [Fol. patches] sublated.
b. A trifling ornament or toy; a trinket, bauble, knick-knack; hence pl., small and trifling articles; ‘traps’, personal belongings or effects (U.S.).
a1553C. Bansley Treatise xviii. (Percy Soc.) 6 Take hede..Least youre wives raymente, and galante trickes doo make youre thryfte full bare. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 67 A knacke, a toy, a tricke, a babies cap. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 64 The women of this countrey weare aboue an hundreth tricks and trifles about them. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvii, These court tricks, and gambols..are the tricks and trinkets that bring fair fortunes to farthings. 1877C. Hallock Sportsman's Gaz. 640 Camp ‘tricks’ should be kept in their places, not thrown helterskelter, or left lying where last used. 1894M. J. Jaques Texan Ranch Life xxvi. 258 There was no need to pack our ‘tricks’ for England, we were assured, since we should never return to Texas; to say nothing about sailing. a1904A. Adams Log Cowboy xiii, After I get a shave..and buy what few tricks I need.
c. Applied playfully to a small or amusing person, animal, or child. U.S. and Austral. colloq.
1887Century Mag. May 113/1 We uns played tergether w'en we wuz little tricks. 1890Stock Grower & Farmer (Las Vegas) 29 Mar. 7/1 Down in the Panhandle..I used to ride a little trick named Dandy. 1907H. B. Wright Shepherd of Hills iv. 39 She ain't had no mother since she was a little trick. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 78 Trick, an amusing person or child, esp. the latter. 1945S. Lewis Cass Timberlane xxiv. 156 ‘What kind of a girl he marry?’ ‘Cute little trick, bright's dollar.’ 1951H. Giles Harbin's Ridge ii. 7 She was a little trick of a person. 1963Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 10 Mar. 19/1 My wife was mystified when somebody in Brisbane described our daughter Sally, who is nearly five, as a ‘trick’.
II.
7. A particular habit, way, or mode of acting; a characteristic quality, trait, practice, or custom. (Usually, a bad or unpleasant habit.) Phr. at or (now more usually) up to one's (old) tricks, misbehaving or plotting mischief in one's characteristic way.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 244 It is not my propertie to be enuious against other (which is a tricke incident to a great number). 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 129 A maide of ripe yeeres, who is hardlie brought to..leaue her olde ill tricks, if she haue taken anie. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. ii. 11 The Foxe, Who ne're so tame, so cherisht, and lock'd vp, Will haue a wilde tricke of his Ancestors. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. xii. 251 The lazy trick of the wild Irish..who to save pains, burn the straw, so to part the grain from it. 1688S. Penton Guard. Instr. (1897) 23 The danger in great Schools of..learning ill Tricks. 1709Steele Tatler No. 8 ⁋5 My Valet de Chambre knows my University-Trick of reading there [in Bed]. 1754Earl of Chatham Lett. Nephew v. (1804) 35 The trick of laughing frivolously is by all means to be avoided. 1791Sir J. Reynolds in Boswell Johnson an. 1739 (1848) 42/1 Those motions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. 1823Scott St. Ronan's II. i. 15 Aweel, I trust he is not at his auld tricks again, goodwife? 1863H. E. P. Spofford Amber Gods 206 ‘You are at your old tricks again!’ said he. 1884Cassell's Fam. Mag. Mar. 220/2 The Wey..has a trick of overflowing its banks. 1898G. B. Shaw Man of Destiny 181 What do you mean? Eh? Are you at your tricks again? Do you think I dont know what these papers contain? 1935Time 7 Jan. 55/1 She and Dill are soon up to their old tricks.
8. a. A habit or fashion of dress. Also fig. arch.
1543Becon Nosegay E iij, Some tyme we followe the fasshyon of the Frenche men. Another time we wil haue a tricke of the Spanyyardes. 1564–78W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 17 Fine knottes vppon his girdle after Frances trickes. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) III. 147 He threw himself at her feet in all the trick of woe. 1874R. W. Buchanan Poet. Wks. III. 150 In the very trick of woe he clad His features.
b. A characteristic expression (of the face or voice); a peculiar feature; a distinguishing trait.
1595Shakes. John i. i. 85 He hath a tricke of Cordelions face. 1605― Lear iv. vi. 108 The tricke of that voyce, I do well remember: Is't not the king? 1847Lytton Lucretia ii. iv, He detected..even the trick of his walk. 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. i, An old-fashioned bearing and trick of speech.
c. The mode of working a piece of mechanism, etc.; the system upon which a thing is constructed.
1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xx. (1687) 203 If you will have so much patience, I will discover to you the trick of it, and shew you by what mechanical powers this liveless Engine..is stirred. 1819Shelley Cenci v. iv. 6 He frowned, as if to frown had been the trick Of his machinery. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge xxi, No one who did not know the trick of it could have opened yonder safe.
9. a. Naut. The time allotted to a man on duty at the helm; a spell; a turn; esp. in to take or stand one's trick (at the wheel, etc.). Also transf.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. i. 138 Seamen when their trike or turn have been out, and the Log hove. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v. Spell, The spells..to steer the ship; which..is generally called the trick. 1835Marryat Jac. Faithf. xviii, His duty is to take his trick at the wheel. 1892M. Gibbs in Science 19 Aug. 99 The male [robin], who shares the duties of sitting, when going to take his trick, almost invariably flies..in the same path. 1912[see trick-duty in 14].
b. U.S. slang. A term of service on a ship. Also, a term in prison.
1933Amer. Speech VIII. iii. 32/2 Trick, a prison term. 1939Sun (Baltimore) 28 Jan. 20/6 After serving a few tricks in the penitentiary they might turn State's evidence. 1942Ibid. 19 Mar. 15/1 He reenlisted as a corporal, a rank he held at the end of his former trick. 1975J. Gores Hammett i. 16 He got caught..and did a little trick at Quentin.
10. a. An instance of the sexual act or any of its variations; usu. spec. a prostitute's session with a client. Esp. to turn a trick, to perform a sexual act with a casual partner, usu. for money. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
In quot. 1926 the context concerns repeated sexual acts.
1926C. Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 252, I said, Now, daddy, do you know any more tricks? 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 30 ‘Turning a trick’ was how they described one session with a john. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) iii. 30, I had decided I was through turning tricks as a call girl. 1962A. Lurie Love & Friendship xv. 300 Twenty-four dollars a time. That's pretty cheap for a girl like you... In New York, with the right connections, I bet you could get at least a hundred a trick. 1974Telegraph (Brisbane) 16 July 14/2 She said in June: ‘I'm lucky if I turn five to 10 tricks a week now.’ 1975J. F. Burke Death Trick ii. 20 It was a true lovers' tryst, not a trick. 1977Time 28 Nov. 45/1 Some of the young prostitutes live at home and turn tricks merely for pocket money.
b. A casual sexual partner; usu. spec. a prostitute's client. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1925in Odum & Johnson Negro & his Songs 189 Lawd, I went to my woman's do' Jes' lak I been doin' befo'; She says, ‘I got my all-night trick, baby, An' you can't git in.’ 1931B. L. Reitman Second Oldest Profession viii. 118 Lillian has four children. Billy, her man, is a fourth-rate taxi-driver pimp. Billy goes out and gets ‘tricks’, and she takes care of them in the home where her children are. 1968B. Turner Sex Trap xv. 148, I doubt there's one trick in twenty who isn't a married man. 1973[see John 1 f]. 1979Globe & Mail (Toronto) 2 July 10/1 Young male prostitutes vie for tricks, the street name for a client.
III. 11. Her. A sketch in pen and ink of a coat of arms; in trick, sketched in pen and ink. (Perhaps a different word: see trick v.)
1572J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 30 b, The tricke of this cote I toke, as I found it paynted on a Table, in a parishe churche of Nottingham. 1610Bolton Elem. Armories 87 Drawing the blacke lines, which giue the shape,..lastly they sometime call it a Trick. 1792Gentl. Mag. Jan. 21/1 A large manuscript collection of arms in trick, done in the reign of Elizabeth. 1890Dillon in Archæologia LII. 130 The flags are only shown in trick with the heraldic tinctures noted. 1908Let. of Richmond Herald of Arms (MS.), Not a painting of the Coat of Arms, but a trick, i.e. a pen and ink sketch with all the heraldic colours marked on it.
IV.
12. Card-playing. The cards (usually four) played, and won or ‘taken’ in one round, collectively; hence to take a or the trick. odd trick: see odd a. 1.
In quots. 1599, 1602, a hand of cards (obs.): in other early quots. with a play upon other senses.
1599Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. i, Here's a trick of discarded cards, of us! 1602Heywood Woman Kill'd Wks. 1874 II. 123 Many a deale I haue lost, the more's your shame. You haue seru'd me a bad tricke. 1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. iii. iv, Wee'll get thee out by a trick... You know a trick is commonly foure Cardes. 1611Cotgr., Mornifle,..a tricke at Cards. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 1 Leauing..to others..to play out that tricke of Cards for mee. a1658Cleveland Smectymnuus 21 A Murnival of Knaves Pack'd in a Trick. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 73/2 A Trick, is as many cards as is won at one laying downe either at the game of Whisk or Picket. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 51 (Whist) The Odds then is 2 to 1 in Favour of B's winning of a Trick. 1837Dickens Pickw. vi, Impossible to have made another trick. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 63 Well—four by honours, and the trick!
V. Phrases and Combinations.
13. Phrases.
a. a trick worth two of that, a much better plan or expedient (cf. 3).
b. to do the trick, to accomplish one's purpose, do what is wanted; also (chiefly U.S.) to turn the trick.
c. to miss a trick, to fail to take advantage of an opportunity or notice something important; esp. he (or she) never misses (does not miss, etc.) a trick (see miss v.1 5 d). colloq. (orig. U.S.).
d. how's (less freq. how are) tricks? how are things? how are you getting on? colloq. (orig. U.S.).
a.1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 41 Nay soft I pray ye, I know a trick worth two of that. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 65 Old Sir John Savil found a trick worth two of that, he had a project would bring in double that mony. 1773Graves Spir. Quixote iii. xv, I was thunder⁓struck..; but she said, ‘she knew a trick worth two of that’. 1855Thackeray Newcomes i, Best be off to bed, my boy—ho, ho! No, no. We know a trick worth two of that. ‘We won't go home till morning, till daylight does appear.’
b.1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Do the Trick. 1823Egan Grose's Dict. Vulg. T., Do the trick, to accomplish any robbery, or other business successfully;..a man who has imprudently involved himself in some great misfortune, from which there is little hope of extrication, is declared by his friends..to have done the trick for himself. [1872Trollope Eustace Diamonds (1873) II. xxxvii. 134 Then the boy was done with and was carried away. She had played that card and had turned her trick.] 1872Punch 9 Nov. 196/1 Pail of whitewash and box o' paints will do the trick. 1895G. Meredith Amazing Marriage xv, I've brought him safe;..He'll do the trick today. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 20 Apr. 10/3 It is our hope and prayer that Mr. Farley may turn the trick. We should be glad to see any administrator make a go of the postal service. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 24 But it was the Old Man who really turned the trick. 1960I. Wallach Absence of Cello 230 It takes many years to live without a deliberate confusion about anyone's wants, including our own. Some people never turn the trick. 1976Springfield (Mass.) Daily News 22 Apr. 39/2 A couple of American college products turned the trick for the Whalers. North Dakota graduate Alan Hangsleben and New Hampshire alumnus Cap Raeder shared the hero's role in the triumph.
c. [a1916H. James Sense of Past (1917) iv. iii. 266 It was..for him to have kept it as..she preferred it. He had begun so..and how..came it therefore that he now repeatedly missed that trick?] 1922S. Lewis Babbitt xix. 241 ‘I'll bet..you were a bad old egg when you were a kid!’ ‘Well, I wasn't so slow!’ ‘I bet you weren't! I'll bet you didn't miss many tricks!’ 1943N. Coward Middle East Diary (1944) 11 He is a highly intelligent man and doesn't miss a trick... He had clear, alert views on the most diverse subjects. 1957‘J. Wyndham’ Midwich Cuckoos xii. 99 He went on, with a puzzled frown on his brow as he realised that somewhere he had missed a trick; something had been kept from him. 1962Oxford Times 28 Dec. 15/2 Peter Butterworth and Joe Black are pantomime professionals who never miss a trick. 1965Harper's Bazaar Feb. 66/1 Fenwicks..never misses a trick when it comes to picking up a new accessory idea. 1965Weekly News (Auckland, N.Z.) 10 Mar. 49/1 The fact that the Wellington [boxing] association could match three Auckland fledgling professionals with three unknown Australians and make a profit points to someone else missing a trick. 1967‘E. Lathen’ Murder against Grain iv. 32 You have to hand it to them. Those boys haven't missed a trick. 1967O. Norton Now lying Dead vi. 109 He never missed a trick. 1973S. B. Jackman Guns covered with Flowers viii. 131 Clever chap... Doesn't miss a trick.
d.1915J. London Jacket xiii. 149 ‘How's tricks?’ I asked finally. 1924W. Holtby Crowded Street i. 21 ‘Well, Mrs. H., how's tricks?’ His wife flushed slightly at the vulgarity of his phrase. 1934D. Runyon in Collier's 24 Nov. 8/4 Meyer Marmalade and I are glad to see her looking so well, and we ask her how are tricks. 1959‘A. Fraser’ High Tension ix. 91 ‘Well,’ he greeted me, ‘how's tricks?’ 1980N. Marsh Photo-Finish ii. 36 ‘Gidday,’ said Les Smith. ‘How's tricks, then, Bert?’
14. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly in sense 5): Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a trick or tricks, as trick change, trick-dealer, trick fall, trick-flying, trick-rider, trick-riding, trick-shower (shower n.2), trick-work, trick-writing; trick-leap, trick-ride vbs.; in senses 9 and 12, trick-duty (see quot.), trick-making, trick-score, trick-taking; skilled in or trained to perform tricks (sense 5), as trick-animal, trick-dog, trick-donkey, trick-horse, trick-pony; made or used for performing tricks, as trick-bag, trick-chair, trick-cycle, trick-dagger, trick-property, trick-staircase, trick-sword, trick-wig; also trick-cycling, (a) the action or process of riding a trick-cycle; (b) humorously, psychiatry (cf. trick-cyclist (b) below); trick-cyclist, (a) one who rides a trick-cycle; (b) humorous alteration of psychiatrist; trick-doctor, ? a Negro sorcerer; trick-film, a film using trick photography; trick-line Theatr., a strong fine line used in pantomime transformations; so trick-scene, a transformation scene; trick photography, photography using montage and other technical devices to create visual illusions; trick picture = trick-film above; trick question, a question designed to elicit more information than it appears to on the surface, or to trick the respondent into giving a wrong answer; trick shot, (a) in Golf, etc.: a particularly clever or devious shot; (b) a camera shot made by means of trick photography; trick wheel, an auxiliary steering wheel on a ship.
1884World 3 Dec. 16/2 The original stud from which the renowned breed of *trick-animals, pink-eyed and piebald, has sprung.
1910Nation 22 Jan. 665/1 A hocus-pocus loaf out of a conjuror's *trick-bag.
1904Daily Chron. 23 Aug. 3/2 It is of a piece with..the murder of Ithocles in an ‘engine’, otherwise *trick-chair.
1896Westm. Gaz. 8 Jan. 2/3 Quick changes—‘*trick changes’ is perhaps more technical a term— were accomplished with remarkable ingenuity.
1901Wide World Mag. VIII. 140/1 An open space here afforded room for a little figure-skating, or rather *trick-cycling. 1951G. Frankau Oliver Trenton xvi. 139, I picked it up from one of our surgeons, who's rather keen on trick-cycling. 1966G. B. Mair Kisses from Satan vii. 79 Don't try and sell that stuff about trickcycling to someone with rheumatism and gall stones.
1897Nat. Police Gaz. 26 May 14/4 That noted *trick cyclist, Lee Richardson, left London for America on Saturday. 1903Daily Chron. 20 May 8/3 A young trick-cyclist..met with a fatal accident to-day while practising looping the loop. 1930H. Wolfe Uncelestial City iii. 112 A trick-cyclist gravely reassembling The features of the ectoplasmic dead. 1971P. Scott Towers of Silence v. iii. 345 That's why the trick-cyclist wallah insists on coming. 1977Listener 31 Mar. 414/3 Is neurotic, inadequate, unhappy..is up in Harley Street being sorted out by a trick cyclist.
1889P. A. Bruce Plant. Negro 116 The *trick doctor..employs the arts of the Obeah practitioners..with the arts of the Myal.
1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 204 A well-trained and experienced collie excels in sagacity all others of the dog family. His was not the intelligence of the *trick dog.
1881Chequered Career 120 If you don't pay us our accounts, we will collar your *trick-donkey.
1912Boston Transcript 24 July 7/3 Company reduces the time for those who do *trick duty [refers to telephone exchange; a night trick is 7 hours' duty between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.].
1912F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xix. 207 The achievements of Mélies and Paul set a very high standard of excellence in trick pictures. Their popularity precipitated a ‘*trick film’ fever. The market became flooded with so-called magic pictures.
1914Chambers's Jrnl. 6 June 429/2 A certain number of these craft [sc. aeroplanes] are kept..for..*trick-flying, &c. 1932E. Wallace When Gangs came to London xxii. 198 You used to do trick flying.
1861Windsor Express 5 Oct., The well-known American Circus..45 *trick and ring horses.
1922Joyce Ulysses 428 Bloom *trickleaps to the curbstone.
1908Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 14/1 All aces are valuable as honours in a ‘trump’ game, as well as in their *trick-making capacity.
1913Technical World XIX. 464 It merely accomplishes what is known as ‘*trick photography’. 1928R. Knox Footsteps at Lock xxiv. 238 His cousin was fond of trick photography. 1984Listener 2 Feb. 37/3 He achieved the crucial transformation scenes without the help of trick photography on cutaways.
1912*Trick picture [see trick film above].
1908Daily Chron. 31 Dec. 4/4 Special masks for the grotesques and ‘*trick’ properties will often break into a couple of hundred pounds.
1939R. Stout Red Threads xv, in Mystery Bk. 516, I could easily ask you some *trick questions that would put sweat on your brow. 1954N. Tomalin in J. Philip et al. Best of Granta (1967) ii. 139 He plugs away at trick questions..like: ‘You did say you were giving the money to Dr Barnardo's didn't you sir?’ 1978P. Niesewand Underground Connection 86 The journalists..filed out... He had not expected any trick questions, and none came.
1887Bicycl. News 10 Sept. 371/2 Probably Maltby will be matched against Temple..to *trick-ride.
1902Billboard 31 May 18/1 (Advt.), The motor wonders Arthur Stone and Joe Judge pace Frank Armstrong (who knows no fear as a *trick rider). 1976National Observer (U.S.) 24 July 18/4 Keitel calmly saying, ‘Hi, Joy,’ to a trick rider flashing past slung from the side of her horse.
1885Cyclist 19 Aug. 1088/2 He entertained the spectators with a *trick-riding performance.
1929*Trick-score [see overtrick]. 1938J. Culbertson Contract Bridge for Beginners vii. 71 A three-bid in no-trumps will produce a trick-score of 100 points.
1924C. J. Tolley Mod. Golfer 229 He tried to recover by the aid of a *trick shot. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 20 Jan. 11/3 He told me that Joe Kirkwood, the marvelous trick-shot golfer had just given an exhibition. 1933Jrnl. Soc. Motion Picture Engineers XX. 319 If the subject should contain more than the usual number of so-called ‘trick’ shots..the shooting time will easily run from 125 to 150 hours. 1981Sunday Times 23 Aug. 54 At an exhibition they expect you to play about 10 frames [of snooker] and then to do some trick shots like hitting a ball into someone's handkerchief. 1983J. Gardner Elephants in Attic xii. 110 My one experience of the film world had been devising trick shots for Alexander Korda.
1677Descr. Diamond Mines in Misc. Cur. (1708) III. 255 Light Women-Dancers, and *Trick-Shewers.
1899Daily News 9 Jan. 6/6 The King..rolls head over heels down a ‘*trick’ staircase.
1901A. Dunn Bridge 52 A sequence of cards equal for *trick-taking purposes, such as king, queen, knave. 1936E. Culbertson Contract Bridge Complete xxxvii. 398 The low cards in long and short suits have their own trick-taking power. 1977Jrnl. Playing-Card Soc. May 23 Reversis is historically important as the earliest known negative complex trick-taking game.
1942Sun (Baltimore) 18 June 8/4 Men were stationed at the ‘*trick wheel’—an auxiliary wheel situated deep inside the ship, where it was operated by hand. 1972L. M. Harris Introd. Deepwater Floating Drilling Operations 244 The emergency steering wheel and trick wheel.
1888Pall Mall G. 1 Sept. 3/1 A *trick wig, with the hanging hair..on a spring piece that allows this fringe to turn over back or down over the forehead.
1876‘Ouida’ Winter City vi, The little Meissonier pictures were clever, if they were mere *trick-work and told no story.
1894Westm. Gaz. 5 July 8/1 Article-writing is to a great extent *trick-writing. To ‘catch on’ they must dogmatise in pointed commonplace.
▪ II. trick, v.|trɪk|
[In branch I not found till late in the 16th c.; app. f. trick n. (The date of appearance is too late to refer it directly to Norman-Picard F. trikier, triquer.) Branches II and III are a little earlier, and may perh. be of different origin; the last is especially difficult to connect with the primary sense of the verb. Cf. sense 11 of the n.]
I.
1. a. trans. To deceive by a trick; to cheat.
(In quot. 1630 with word-play on trick and trump at cards.)
1595[see tricking vbl. n. 1]. 1606[see tricker 1]. 1630B. Jonson New Inn i. i, When she [Fortune] is pleas'd to trick or tromp mankind, Some may be coats, as in the cards; but, then, Some must be knaves. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 94 However he tricks his Captain in other Things, his Plate and Dishes are every Day forth coming. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xiii. 104 To trick a gauger was thought an excellent joke. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. vii, He was often tricked about horses, which he pretended to know better than any jockey. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan i. ii. 235 'Tis plain I have been tricked and overreached.
b. To cheat out of; to deprive of by trickery.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. Contents p. vii, Syddy Jore trick'd out of his Life by Bullul Caun. 1727Gay Begg. Op. i. ii, She tricks us of our money. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. lxxxi. 66 His belief that he who makes the wealth of the country is tricked out of his proper share in its prosperity.
c. To beguile into; to induce into by trickery.
1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 68 The Tide-waiter, voluntarily trick'd into a Game at All fours. 1801C. Smith Lett. Solit. Wand. II. 240 Her contempt of one who could so basely contrive to trick her into his power. 1874Green Short Hist. ix. §3. 625 To trick them into approval of a war with Holland.
d. absol. or intr. To practise trickery, to cheat.
a1700Dryden To Mr. Granville 23 Thus they jog on, still tricking, never thriving. 1701Penn in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 73 If in the least he tricks, use him accordingly. 1909Nation 2 Oct. 11/2 To the ignorant and superstitious everything tricks and deludes.
e. To put a spell on (a person), ‘conjure’. Cf. trick n. 5 c. U.S. dial. (esp. in the speech of U.S. Blacks).
1829Virginia Lit. Museum 25 Nov. 384 And, amongst the degraded and ignorant part of our own population, the notion of ‘tricking’ or bewitching is universally..received. 1895L. Herron in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 360/2 The conjure doctor's business was of two kinds: to conjure, or ‘trick’, a person, and to cure people already conjured. 1970H. M. Hyatt Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft-Rootwork I. 688 Well, if a man is got de skill upon 'im tuh make a man do 'jes whut he want 'im to do without hurtin' 'im, dat's trickin' a man. 1977[see trick n. 5 c].
2. To get or effect by trickery or cheating. rare.
1662in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 178 London is a Theife will trick your purse as well as mine. 1895G. S. Street Introd. to Congreve's Comedies 25 The trick..of a tricked marriage is common in Congreve.
3. a. intr. To play tricks with; to trifle with.
1881Stevenson Virg. Puerisque, etc. (1895) 162 We may trick with the word life..until we are weary of tricking. 1913Daily News 23 Sept. 5 The fireman was ‘tricking’ with girls on the platform.
b. To have casual sexual intercourse, esp. for money; chiefly const. with. Cf. trick n. 10 a, b. U.S. slang.
1965C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land (1966) vi. 163 Since her mother was laying so many cats, why shouldn't she be tricking. 1967C. Himes Black on Black (1973) 133 He was trying to get his old lady, Tang, to go down into Central Park and trick with some white man so they could eat. 1973J. Wambaugh Blue Knight xii. 207 He tricked with a whore the night before in the Orchid Hotel. 1978A. Maling Lucky Devil xxix. 154 ‘You know him?’ I asked. ‘We've tricked,’ he replied.
†4. trans. To sophisticate or adulterate (wine, etc.). Obs. rare.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 66 This makes the Vintners to tricke or compasse all their naturall wines, if they bee a little hard, with Bastarde to make them sweeter. 1662[see tricking vbl. n. 1].
II.
5. a. trans. To dress, array, attire; to deck, prank; to adorn (usually with the notion of artifice). Const. with, in. Also intr. with it. Also fig.
a1500Mylner of Abyngton 457 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 117 The wenche she was full proper and nyce,..For she coulde tricke it point device. a1553C. Bansley Treat. xii. (Percy Soc.) 5 Sponge up youre vysage, olde bounsynge trotte, and tricke it wyth the beste, Tyll you tricke and trotte youre selfe, to the devyls trounsynge neste. a1592Greene George-a-Greene Wks. (Rtldg.) 266/2 Some peasants trick'd in yeoman's weeds. 1632Milton Penseroso 123 Till civil-suited Morn appeer, Not trickt and frounc't..But Cherchef't in a comly Cloud. 1759Mason Caractacus Poems 1830 II. 138 His clemency,..trick'd and varnish'd by your glossing pen⁓men. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country iii. 408 The late death chamber, tricked with trappings still. 1890R. Bridges Shorter Poems ii. 1 What musical array Tricks her sweet syllables.
b. Often strengthened with up, off, out.
c1533Latimer Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 1316/1 A poore purgatory. So poore yt it should not be able to fede so fatte, and tricke vp so many idell and slouthful lubbers. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon x. 38, I cannot trick it up with poesies. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 27 That the King..to blinde the eyes of simple men had tricked up a Boy in the likenesse of Edward Plantagenet. 1727Gay Begg. Op. iii. v, To trick out young Ladies, upon their going into Keeping. 1821Examiner 19/2 She was well tutored and tricked off for the occasion. 1822Scott Fam. Lett. 18 Feb., I must trick out my dwellings with something fantastical. 1878E. Jenkins Haverholme 153 Tricking out tables to look like altars.
c. transf. To dress up, to prepare (food). rare.
1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 10 A slight repast had therefore been tricked up from the residue of dinner.
†6. To arrange, adjust, trim. Often in phrase to trick and trim. Cf. trig v.4 Obs.
1552Elyot s.v. Caesaries, Repexa caesaries, a busshe twise or thrise kemed and tricked. 1570Levins Manip. 120/33 To trick, or trim, concinnare. 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 624 Being not of authority..to take the stern in hand, and govern the ship, he took himself to tricking the sails. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 206 He consumed so much time..in tricking and trimming his head. 1770M. Bruce Elegy viii, On the green furze..The linnet sits, and tricks his glossy plumes. 1810Southey Kehama viii. ii, No human hand hath trick'd that mane From which he [the steed] shakes the morning dew.
III. 7. To sketch or draw in outline; to delineate or trace the outline of (obs.); spec. in Her., to draw (a coat of arms) in outline, the tinctures being denoted by initial letters (o, a, s, etc.) or by signs. Also with out.
(In many passages incorrectly used or confused with sense 5.)
1545Elyot, Adumbro..some do suppose that it signifieth, to trycke a thynge, or drawe it grossely, as paynters doo at the begynnyng. 1562Leigh Armorie (1597) 106 This cote I had in the Monasterie of Saint Katherins besides the Towne of Rone, which for the rarenes therof I tricked. 1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits viii. (1596) 111 The boy..with his pen can tricke a horse to the life. 1657Wood Life 14 Aug. (O.H.S.) I. 223 He..tricked out with his pen the ichnography of the church and cloyster and buildings adjoyning. 1859Symonds' Diary (Camden) Introd. 14 The..shields of arms recorded in the MS. are..‘tricked’,..thus necessitating a description of the bearings. 1908H. Hall Formula Bk. I. 123 The feature of these instruments [Chancery Warrants]..being the technical description of the arms which are usually tricked on the original.
IV.
8. trick and tie (trick app. = to take one's turn at something; cf. trick n. 9), to be equal or even with someone or something; chiefly as adj. (sometimes hyphened); occas. as n.
1825C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 241 Trick and tie you know is fair play. 1829P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 132 The Grecian, in order to make ‘trick and tie’ with his opponent, put his best foot foremost, and pursued him. 1883W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampshire Words & Phr. 96 Trick-and-tie.., equal to each other. 1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 374/1 Trick and tie (sport). To be trick and tie, or touch and go, is to be equal in a race, or other athletic performance. 1905Eng. Dial. Dict. VI. 234/1 [Wiltshire] ‘I'll keep trick-and-tie wi' un’, will keep even or level with him, in mowing or standing pots of beer or anything else.
▪ III. † trick, a.1 and adv. Obs.
[In use from c 1530 to 1630, very common from c 1550 to 1600. Origin obscure: it does not seem to be connected in sense with trick n. or v. On the other hand its two senses correspond closely to senses 2 and 3 of trig a.1 The latter was at that time only northern; midland and southern speakers may have associated it with the known n. and vb. trick, and adopted it in this form. Often alliteratively coupled with trim.]
A. adj.
1. Smart, adroit, clever, nimble, ‘neat’. rare. Cf. trig a.1 2.
(Quot. 1545 may belong to sense 2.)
1542[implied in trickly adv.] 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 28 Two bowes..whereof the one is quicke of cast, tricke and trimme both for pleasure and profyte: the other is a lugge slowe of cast, folowing the string. a1550Schole Ho. Women 100 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 109 So trick a way they haue to kisse With open mouth and rowling eyes. 15..Six Ballads w. Burdens (Percy Soc.) 8 Say-well in wordes is proper and trycke. 1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 147 Trimmest fidling on the trickest kit. 1593Lodge Phillis, etc. (Hunter. Cl.) 71 Sweet chaines of honny speech, Deliuered by a trick Herculean tongue Able to tice all eares.
2. Trim, neat, handsome, in form or feature; smart, ‘fine’, ornate in dress. Cf. trig a.1 3, 3 b.
c1530Redforde Play Wit & Sc. (1848) 1 See That all thynges be cleane and trycke abowte ye. 1533J. Heywood Play of Weather Plays (1905) 123 As dearly my youth I might have sold As the trickest and fairest of you all. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 70 A tricke waggon, on the which sat a ladie richely appareled. a1553C. Bansley Treat. xxiv. (Percy Soc.) 7 Lustye wylfull wyll wyll..cause the tryckeste of you all, to synge a carefull songe. 1570Levins Manip. 120/40 Trick, nitidus, concinnus. 1581A. Hall Iliad ii. 39 Bryseis his tricke and gallant trull. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. (1629) 390 A neighbour mine..That maried had a tricke and bonny lasse. 1630W. Freake Doctrines Jesuits 43 Gay Gownes..wherewith hee can make her both tricke and trimme.
B. adv.
1. Cleverly, ‘neatly’, ‘finely’.
1564–78W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest. (1888) 94 He plaieth tricke vpon the Gitterne. 1584Peele Arraignm. Paris i. i, But tell me, wench [Flora], hast done't so trick indeed? [i.e. deck'd the earth with parti-colour'd flowers].
2. Neatly, smartly, elegantly, ‘trigly’.
1594Greene & Lodge Looking-Glasse G.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 122/2 Unless you coy it trick and trim. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 190 A sumptuous graue, Which garnisht is without full tricke and trim. a1658Cleveland Myrtle-Grove 50 Her gamesome Hair..in wild Rings ran trick about the air.
▪ IV. trick, a.2 U.S. colloq.
[f. the n.]
= tricky a. 2; liable to give way unexpectedly, defective, unreliable.
1961in Webster. 1968Punch 21 Feb. 256/2 He would have been out there himself, he said, only he had this trick knee, had it since he was a kid, gave him hell. 1977Time 8 Aug. 14/1 Private Citizen Henry Kissinger has a trick back like millions of other Americans. 1977Hot Car Oct. 42/1 Best upholstery went to Sandy Ventriglin for her work on a very trick Viva. |