Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Another name for thimblerig, walnut-shells being used instead of thimbles to cover the pea which the victim tries to find.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word shell-game.
Examples
-
Add in O'Neill acting as mini-Kirk to force the alien out, which always bugs me, and the consciousness switching shell-game to save Sam and, well, a very underwhelming episode.
-
We should do direct carbon tax credits instead of making a shell-game exchange out of the whole thing, like the Republicans asked for.
-
But a monomaniacal obsession with testing scores risks making public education a shadow of a Wall Street shell-game.
Fred Bauer: A Conservative Critique of High-Stakes Standardized Testing Fred Bauer 2012
-
The fact that Islamic banking, which renounces interest, is a thriving rival to the shaky Western financial shell-game might scare your banker's pocketbook as well, so you can start screaming about Shariah law supplanting the Constitution.
Kamran Pasha: Fashion Alert: Fearing Muslims Is The New Black Kamran Pasha 2010
-
The fact that Islamic banking, which renounces interest, is a thriving rival to the shaky Western financial shell-game might scare your banker's pocketbook as well, so you can start screaming about Shariah law supplanting the Constitution.
Kamran Pasha: Fashion Alert: Fearing Muslims Is The New Black Kamran Pasha 2010
-
Shame on your invalid attempt to shell-game this grand magician!
The TV Column: HBO announces new McCain/Palin film, 'Game Change' 2011
-
On the other hand, if the mechanisms and institutions underlying the democratic process are widely perceived as fraudulent, unstable, and inefficient, there seem to be few ways to prevent a "free and fair" election from devolving into a stage-managed shell-game.
Malou Innocent: Afghanistan's 2010 Parliamentary Elections: Bright Spot or Blood Spot? 2010
-
On the other hand, if the mechanisms and institutions underlying the democratic process are widely perceived as fraudulent, unstable, and inefficient, there seem to be few ways to prevent a "free and fair" election from devolving into a stage-managed shell-game.
Malou Innocent: Afghanistan's 2010 Parliamentary Elections: Bright Spot or Blood Spot? 2010
-
On the other hand, if the mechanisms and institutions underlying the democratic process are widely perceived as fraudulent, unstable, and inefficient, there seem to be few ways to prevent a "free and fair" election from devolving into a stage-managed shell-game.
Malou Innocent: Afghanistan's 2010 Parliamentary Elections: Bright Spot or Blood Spot? Malou Innocent 2010
-
This is one big gigantic word-smithing, shell-game.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.