/tɹɪk/, [t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪk], [tʃɹ̠̊ɪk]
OriginFrom 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.
- Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
“It was just a trick to say that the house was underpriced.”
“He played a trick on his sister as April Fool's Day.”
- 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.”
- An entertaining difficult physical action.
“That's a nice skateboard, but can you do any tricks on it?”
“Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space.”
- An effective, clever or quick way of doing something.
“tricks of the trade; what's the trick of getting this chair to fold up?”
“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 whi”
- Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank.
“the tricks of boys”
“They played a crude trick on the teacher.”
- datedA particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait.
“a trick of drumming with the fingers; a trick of frowning”
“He hath a trick of Cœur de Lion's face.”
“The trick of that voice I do well remember.”
- A knot, braid, or plait of hair.
“I cannot tell , but it stirs me more than all your court curls , or your spangles , or your tricks”
- 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.”
“And now (as oft in some distemper'd state) / On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate!”
- slangA sex act, chiefly one performed for payment; an act of prostitution.
“turn a trick”
“turn tricks”
“Across 110th street / Woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh baby / Across 110th Street / You can find it all in the street”
- slangA customer or client of a prostitute.
“As the businessman rounded the corner, she thought, "Here comes another trick."”
“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.”
- Pennsylvania, WesternA daily period of work, especially in shift-based jobs.
“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.”
“Woodside Junction—On 8 hour basis, first trick $60, second trick $60, third trick $50.”
“The Union contends that Fifer was entitled to promotion to the position of Group Leader on the third trick in the Core Room Department.”
- A sailor's spell of work at the helm, usually two hours long.
“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,
A”
- obsoleteA toy; a trifle; a plaything.
“The vviles and guiles that vvomen vvorke, / Diſſembled vvith an outvvard ſhevv: / The tricks and toyes that in them lurke, / The Cock that treads thẽ [them] ſhall not knovv, […]”
- A representation of arms that is drawn as an outline with labels to indicate colors.
“Heraldic Collections of various Heralds and others, containing Arms blazoned and in trick, grants of arms, pedigrees, etc.”
“The trick […] might be meant for a lion passant or for one rampant embelif […]”
- transitiveTo fool; to cause to believe something untrue; to deceive.
“You tried to trick me when you said that house was underpriced.”
“I was once tricked into believing I had left my phone in the locker.”
- To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).
“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 m”
“They forget that they are in the statutes: […] there they are trick'd, they and their pedigrees.”
- To dress; to decorate; to adorn fantastically; often followed by up, off, or out.
“[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 poo”
“Tricking up their children in fine clothes.”
“Trick her off in air.”
- 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 & h”
“You trick for other people, you cheat me out of money, and then when you need a favour, you come back to me.”
“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, b”
- Involving trickery or deception.
- Able to perform tricks.
- Defective or unreliable.
- US, slangStylish or cool.
“Wow, your new sportscar is so trick.”
Formstricks(plural) · tricks(present, singular, third-person) · tricking(participle, present) · tricked(participle, past) · tricked(past) · tricker(comparative) · trickest(superlative)