I.
noun
1 deception
ADJECTIVE
▪ cheap , cruel , dirty , mean , nasty
▪
The press accused the president of dirty ~s in his election campaign.
▪ stupid
▪ funny
▪ little
▪ con ( informal ), confidence (both BrE )
VERB + TRICK
▪ play , pull , try , use
▪
We decided to play a little ~ on the teacher.
▪ fall for
▪
She won't fall for such a stupid ~.
▪ know , learn
▪
He's learned a ~ or two in his time working in the tax office.
TRICK + VERB
▪ work
TRICK + NOUN
▪ question
PHRASES
▪ a ~ of the light
▪
A ~ of the light made it look like she was pregnant.
▪ a ~ or two
▪
I could teach him a ~ or two ( = show him a better way to do things ).
▪ every ~ in the book (= all methods, honest or not)
2 clever way of doing sth that works well
ADJECTIVE
▪ special
▪ clever , good , neat
▪
Another neat ~ is to add lemon peel to the water.
▪ handy , nifty ( informal ), useful
▪ old
▪
He used the old ~ of attacking in order to defend himself.
▪ real
▪
The real ~ is predicting the market two years down the line.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ for
▪
a ~ for getting out red wine stains
▪ ~ to
▪
There's no ~ to it—you just need lots of practice.
PHRASES
▪ have a ~ up your sleeve (= a plan to use if necessary)
▪
I have a few ~s up my sleeve.
▪ the ~ is to …
▪
The ~ is to keep your body still and your arms relaxed.
▪ the ~s of the trade
3 skilled act
ADJECTIVE
▪ clever , difficult
▪ simple
▪ card , conjuring , disappearing , magic
▪ parlour/parlor ( old-fashioned , esp. AmE ), party
▪ camera
▪ rhetorical
▪
These rhetorical ~s are common in political speeches.
▪ accounting
▪
the kinds of accounting ~s that get CEOs into trouble
VERB + TRICK
▪ do , employ , perform
▪
Very few camera ~s are employed.
▪ learn
▪ teach sb
TRICK + VERB
▪ work
TRICK + NOUN
▪ photography
PHRASES
▪ (you can't) teach an old dog new ~s (= it is difficult to make people change their ideas, etc.)
II.
verb
Trick is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ way
III.
adj.
Trick is used with these nouns: ↑ photography , ↑ question , ↑ shot