/ trɪk; NAmE / noun , verb , adjective
■ noun
STH TO CHEAT SB
1.
something that you do to make sb believe sth which is not true, or to annoy sb as a joke :
They had to think of a trick to get past the guards.
The kids are always playing tricks on their teacher.
—see also confidence trick , dirty trick
STH CONFUSING
2.
something that confuses you so that you see, understand, remember, etc. things in the wrong way :
One of the problems of old age is that your memory can start to play tricks on you.
Was there somebody standing there or was it a trick of the light ?
ENTERTAINMENT
3.
a clever action that sb/sth performs as a way of entertaining people :
He amused the kids with conjuring tricks.
a card trick
—see also hat-trick
GOOD METHOD
4.
[ usually sing. ] a way of doing sth that works well; a good method :
The trick is to pick the animal up by the back of its neck.
He used the old trick of attacking in order to defend himself.
IN CARD GAMES
5.
the cards that you play or win in a single part of a card game :
I won six tricks in a row.
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IDIOMS
- a bag / box of tricks
- be up to your (old) tricks
- do the trick
- every trick in the book
- have a trick, some more tricks, etc. up your sleeve
- trick or treat
- the tricks of the trade
- turn a trick
—more at miss verb , teach
■ verb
[ vn ] to make sb believe sth which is not true, especially in order to cheat them :
I'd been tricked and I felt stupid.
He managed to trick his way past the security guards.
➡ note at cheat
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- trick sb into sth / into doing sth
- trick sb out of sth
- trick sb/sth out (in / with sth)
■ adjective [ only before noun ]
1.
intended to trick sb :
It was a trick question (= one to which the answer seems easy but actually is not) .
It's all done using trick photography (= photography that uses clever techniques to show things that do not actually exist or are impossible) .
2.
( NAmE ) ( of part of the body ) weak and not working well :
a trick knee
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (as a noun): from an Old French dialect variant of triche , from trichier deceive, of unknown origin. Current senses of the verb date from the mid 16th cent.