trick

See also: Trick

English

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.

Pronunciation
  • enPR: trĭk, IPA(key): /tɹɪk/, [t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪk], [tʃɹ̠̊ɪk]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪk

Noun

trick (plural tricks)

  1. Something designed to fool or swindle.
    It was just a trick to say that the house was underpriced.
  2. 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.
  3. An entertaining difficult physical action.
    That's a nice skateboard, but can you do any tricks on it?
    • 1995, All Aboard for Space: Introducing Space to Youngsters, page 158:
      Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space.
  4. An effective, clever or quick way of doing something.
    tricks of the trade;  what's the trick of getting this chair to fold up?
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.
  5. Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank.
    the tricks of boys
    They played a crude trick on the teacher.
  6. (dated) A particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait.
    a trick of drumming with the fingers; a trick of frowning
  7. A knot, braid, or plait of hair.
    • 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      I cannot tell , but it stirs me more than all your court curls , or your spangles , or your tricks
  8. (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.
    • 1712, Alexander Pope, “Canto III”, in The Rape of the Lock, lines 93–94; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 94:
      And now (as oft in some distemper'd state) / On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate!
  9. (slang) A sex act, chiefly one performed for payment; an act of prostitution.
    turn a trick
    turn tricks
    • 1988, John H. Lindquist, Misdemeanor Crime: Trivial Criminal Pursuit, page 43:
      Perhaps the most important thing a prostitute learns is how to "manage" the client; how to con him into spending more money than he planned. Learning how to perform tricks takes only a few minutes. Learning how to "hustle" the client takes longer.
    • 2010, Richard Gill, Paloma Azul, page 139:
      "How did you get into all this?" "I started doing tricks when I was young and I don't mean the magic circle. I learned about sex from an early age. There was nothing else to do in Pitsea except heavy petting and getting F grades at school."
    • 2019, Julie S. Draskoczy, Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin’s Gulag:
      When he later asked her to strip and perform tricks for him, she refused, and he chased her away. She had similar experiences with other men until she eventually fell into prostitution: […]
  10. (slang) A customer or client of a prostitute.
    Synonyms: john; see also Thesaurus:prostitute's client
    As the businessman rounded the corner, she thought, "Here comes another trick."
    • 2011, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, page 99:
      Ten minutes after she got down she broke luck. A white trick in a thirty-seven Buick picked her up. I timed her. She had racehorse speed.
  11. (slang, vulgar) A term of abuse.
  12. (Western Pennsylvania) A daily period of work, especially in shift-based jobs.
    • 1885, Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, The Conductor and Brakeman, page 496:
      On third trick from 12 m. to 8 am, we have W. A. White, formerly operator at Wallula, who thus far has given general satisfaction.
    • 1899, New York (State), Bureau of Statistics, Deptartment of Labor, Annual Report:
      Woodside Junction—On 8 hour basis, first trick $60, second trick $60, third trick $50.
    • 1949, Labor arbitration reports, page 738:
      The Union contends that Fifer was entitled to promotion to the position of Group Leader on the third trick in the Core Room Department.
  13. (nautical) A sailor's spell of work at the helm, usually two hours long.
    • 1902, John Masefield, Sea Fever:
      I must go 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.
  14. (obsolete) A toy; a trifle; a plaything.
  15. (heraldry) A representation of arms that is drawn as an outline with labels to indicate colors.
    • 1892, George Gatfield, Guide to Printed Books and Manuscripts Relating to English and Foreign Heraldry, page 12:
      Heraldic Collections of various Heralds and others, containing Arms blazoned and in trick, grants of arms, pedigrees, etc.
    • 2009, Thomas Daniel Tremlett, Hugh Stanford London, Rolls of Arms, Henry III., page 132:
      The trick […] might be meant for a lion passant or for one rampant embelif […]

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations
slang: customer to a prostitute — see john

Verb

trick (third-person singular simple present tricks, present participle tricking, simple past and past participle tricked)

  1. (transitive) To fool; to cause to believe something untrue; to deceive.
    You tried to trick me when you said that house was underpriced.
  2. (heraldry) To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, / Black as his purpose, did the night resemble / When he lay couched in the ominous horse, / Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd / With heraldry more dismal; head to foot / Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd / With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons […]
    • 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I:
      They forget that they are in the statutes: […] there they are trick'd, they and their pedigrees.
  3. To dress; to decorate; to adorn fantastically; often followed by up, off, or out.
    • 1624, Henry Wotton, “The Seate, and the Worke”, in The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC, I. part, page 38:
      [T]his Pillar [the "Compounded Order"] is nothing in effect, but a Medlie, or an Amaſſe of all the precedent Ornaments, making a nevv kinde, by ſtealth, and though the moſt richly tricked, yet the pooreſt in this, that he is a borrovver of all his Beautie.
      An adjective use.
    • 1693, [John Locke], “(please specify the section number)”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
      Tricking up their children in fine clothes.
    • 1735, Alexander Pope, Of the Characters of Women:
      Trick her off in air.
    • 1825, Thomas Macaulay, An Essay on John Milton:
      They are simple, but majestic, records of the feelings of the poet; as little tricked out for the public eye as his diary would have been.
  4. To engage in prostitution or casual sex.
    • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
      […] and suddenly it was Maryellin, he & I in the bed. The guy was tall, lean & hard. Absolutely lovely body. For me, it was like my old tricking days.
    • 1985 April 20, Betsy Duren, “Women's Studies Conference: Sex and Culture”, in Gay Community News, page 7:
      Asked whether one possible way for lesbians to increase sexual satisfaction within a relationship would be to "trick" outside it, Pearlman said that this could be a "terrific turn-on" if done right, but that she generally wouldn't recommend it because of the high risk of jealousy and breakups.

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective or verb trick

Translations

Adjective

trick (comparative tricker, superlative trickest)

  1. Involving trickery or deception.
    trick photography
  2. Able to perform tricks.
    A trick pony
  3. Defective or unreliable.
    a trick knee
  4. (chiefly US, slang) Stylish or cool.
    Wow, your new sportscar is so trick.

References

Danish

Etymology

From English trick.

Pronunciation

IPA(key): [ˈtˢʁɛɡ̊]

Noun

trick (singular definite tricket, plural indefinite trickene)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Synonyms

Further reading
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