/ plɔɪ; NAmE / noun
ploy (to do sth) words or actions that are carefully planned to get an advantage over sb else
SYN manoeuvre :
a clever marketing ploy
It was all a ploy to distract attention from his real aims.
••
WORD ORIGIN
late 17th cent. (originally Scots and northern English in the sense pastime ): of unknown origin. The notion of “a calculated plan” dates from the 1950s.