trick

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An act or procedure intended to achieve an end by deceptive or fraudulent means. See Synonyms at wile.
2. n. A mischievous action; a prank.
3. n. A stupid, disgraceful, or childish act or performance.
4. n. A peculiar trait or characteristic; a mannerism: "Mimicry is the trick by which a moth or other defenseless insect comes to look like a wasp” ( Marston Bates).
5. n. A peculiar event with unexpected, often deceptive results: "One of history's cruelest tricks is to take words that sounded good at the time and make them sound pretty stupid” ( David Owen).
6. n. A deceptive or illusive appearance; an illusion: a trick of sunlight.
7. n. A special skill; a knack: Is there a trick to getting this window to stay up?
8. n. A convention or specialized skill peculiar to a particular field of activity: learned the tricks of the winemaking trade.
9. n. A feat of magic or legerdemain.
10. n. A difficult, dexterous, or clever act designed to amuse.
11. n. Games All the cards played in a single round, one from each player.
12. n. Games One such round.
13. n. A period or turn of duty, as at the helm of a ship.
14. n. Slang A prison term.
15. n. Slang An act of prostitution.
16. n. Slang A prostitute's customer.
17. n. Slang A session carried out by a prostitute with a client.
18. n. Slang A robbery or theft.
19. v. To cheat or deceive or to practice trickery or deception.
20. adj. Of, relating to, or involving tricks.
21. adj. Capable of performing tricks: a trick dog.
22. adj. Designed or made for doing a trick or tricks: trick cards; trick dice.
23. adj. Weak, defective, or liable to fail: a trick knee.
24. out Informal To ornament or adorn, often garishly: was all tricked out in beads and fringe.
25. idiom. do To bring about the desired result.
26. idiom. how's tricks Informal Used to make a friendly inquiry about a person or that person's affairs.
27. idiom. not miss a trick To be extremely alert: The teacher was known for not missing a trick.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To deceive by trickery; cozen; cheat.
2. To bring, render, or induce by trickery; beguile; inveigle; cajole.
3. To use trickery, deception, or imposture.
4. To juggle; play.
5. To toy; handle idly.
6. n. A crafty or fraudulent device; a deceitful expedient; an artifice; a stratagem.
7. n. A feat or an exhibition of skill or dexterity, as in juggling or sleight of hand.
8. n. A roguish or mischievous performance; a prank; a practical joke; a hoax.
9. n. A foolish, vicious, or disgraceful act: with disparaging or contemptuous force.
10. n. A peculiar art; skill; adroitness; knack.
11. n. A peculiar trait, manner, habit, or practice; a characteristic; a peculiarity; a mannerism.
12. n. A trace; a suggestion; a reminder.
13. n. Something pretended or unreal; a semblance; an illusion.
14. n. Any small article; a toy; a knickknack; a trifle; a trap; a mere nothing: sometimes applied to a child.
15. n. In card-playing, the cards collectively which are played in one round. In whist and many other card-games the number of tricks taken makes up the score on which the winning or losing of the game depends. A whist trick is complete when the cards are turned and quitted.
16. n. Nautical, a spell: a turn; the time allotted to a man to stand at the helm, generally two hours.
17. n. A watch. Tuft's Glossary of Thieves' Jargon (1798).
18. n. Synonyms Manœuver, Stratagem, etc. (see artifice), fraud, imposition, imposture, deception, fetch.
19. To dress; trim; deck; prank; specifically, to arrange, dress, or decorate, especially in a fanciful way, as the person or the hair: often followed by out or up.
20. In heraldry: To draw, as a bearing or a collection of bearings, or a whole escutcheon or achievement of arms. The word implies the representation graphically of armorial bearings in any sense, and should be used instead of blazon, which properly means to describe in words.
21. Especially, to draw in black and white only, without color, or to sketch slightly, whether a bearing or a whole achievement.
22. n. An obsolete form of trig.

Wiktionary

1. adj. slang Stylish or cool.
2. n. Something designed to fool or swindle.
3. n. A single piece (or business) of a magician's (or any variety entertainer's) act.
4. n. An effective, clever or quick way of doing something.
5. n. card games A sequence in which each player plays a card and a winning play is determined.
6. n. slang An act of prostitution. Generally used with turn.
7. n. slang A customer to a prostitute.
8. n. An entertaining or difficult physical action.
9. n. A daily period of work, especially in shift-based jobs.
10. v. transitive To fool; to cause to believe something untrue.
11. v. heraldry To draw (as opposed to blazon - to describe in words).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An artifice or stratagem; a cunning contrivance; a sly procedure, usually with a dishonest intent.
2. n. A sly, dexterous, or ingenious procedure fitted to puzzle or amuse.
3. n. Mischievous or annoying behavior; a prank.
4. n. A particular habit or manner; a peculiarity; a trait.
5. n. obsolete A knot, braid, or plait of hair.
6. n. (Card Playing) The whole number of cards played in one round, and consisting of as many cards as there are players.
7. n. (Naut.) A turn; specifically, the spell of a sailor at the helm, -- usually two hours.
8. n. obsolete A toy; a trifle; a plaything.
9. v. To deceive by cunning or artifice; to impose on; to defraud; to cheat.
10. v. To dress; to decorate; to set off; to adorn fantastically; -- often followed by up, off, or out.
11. v. To draw in outline, as with a pen; to delineate or distinguish without color, as arms, etc., in heraldry.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
2. n. a prostitute's customer
3. n. a period of work or duty
4. n. (card games) in a single round, the sequence of cards played by all the players; the high card is the winner
5. n. an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
6. n. a cunning or deceitful action or device
7. n. an attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent
8. v. deceive somebody