finesse

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Refinement and delicacy of performance, execution, or artisanship.
2. n. Skillful, subtle handling of a situation; tactful, diplomatic maneuvering.
3. n. A method of leading up to a tenace, as in bridge, in order to prevent an opponent from winning the trick with an intermediate card.
4. n. A stratagem in which one appears to decline an advantage.
5. v. To accomplish by the use of finesse.
6. v. To handle with a deceptive or evasive strategy.
7. v. To play (a card) as a finesse.
8. v. To use finesse.
9. v. To make a finesse in cards.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Artifice; delicate stratagem; subtlety of contrivance; also, that quality of mind or character which leads to subtle actions.
2. n. In whist, the play (usually by the third hand, but occasionally by the second) of a card (say C) of the suit led, lower than another (A) in the hand, in the hope that an unplayed card (B) of intermediate value, whose position is still unknown, may be found to lie to the right, so that the trick may be taken by the card C while A is reserved to take B.
3. n. Fineness of perception.
4. n. Synonyms Artifice, Manæuver, etc. (see artifice); skill, artfulness, adroitness, craft, subterfuge.
5. To use artifice or fine stratagem.
6. In whist-playing, to attempt to take a trick by finesse.
7. In whist-playing, to practise or perform a finesse with: as, to finesse a king, a knave, etc.
8. n. In the fine arts, subtlety and delicacy in color or form.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable The property of having grace, elegance, skill, or balance.
2. n. uncountable Skill in handling of a situation.
3. n. countable An adroit maneuver.
4. n. countable, bridge A technique which allows one to promote tricks based on a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponent.
5. v. transitive, intransitive, card games To play (a card) as a finesse (see noun sense above).
6. v. transitive To handle or manage carefully or skillfully.
7. v. transitive To evade.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Subtilty of contrivance to gain a point; artifice; stratagem.
2. n. (Whist Playing) The act of finessing. See Finesse, v. i., 2.
3. v. To use artifice or stratagem.
4. v. (Whist Playing) To attempt, when second or third player, to make a lower card answer the purpose of a higher, when an intermediate card is out, risking the chance of its being held by the opponent yet to play.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. subtly skillful handling of a situation