TRICK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does trick mean? 

• TRICK (noun)
  The noun TRICK has 7 senses:

1. a cunning or deceitful action or device

2. a period of work or duty

3. an attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent

4. a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement

5. an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers

6. a prostitute's customer

7. (card games) in a single round, the sequence of cards played by all the players; the high card is the winner

  Familiarity information: TRICK used as a noun is common.

• TRICK (verb)
  The verb TRICK has 1 sense:

1. deceive somebody

  Familiarity information: TRICK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRICK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cunning or deceitful action or device

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

fast one; trick

Context example:

he pulled a fast one and got away with it

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

device; gimmick; twist (any clever maneuver)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trick"):

schtick; schtik; shtick; shtik ((Yiddish) a devious trick; a bit of cheating)

Derivation:

trick (deceive somebody)

trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

tricksy; tricky (marked by skill in deception)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A period of work or duty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

duty period; shift; work shift (the time period during which you are at work)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

that offer was a dirty trick

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

dishonesty; knavery (lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing)

Derivation:

trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

antic; caper; joke; prank; put-on; trick

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trick"):

dirty trick (an unkind or aggressive trick)

practical joke (a prank or trick played on a person (especially one intended to make the victim appear foolish))

Derivation:

trickster (someone who plays practical jokes on others)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

conjuration; conjuring trick; deception; illusion; legerdemain; magic; magic trick; thaumaturgy; trick

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

performance (the act of presenting a play or a piece of music or other entertainment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "trick"):

card trick (a trick performed with playing cards)

prestidigitation; sleight of hand (manual dexterity in the execution of tricks)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A prostitute's customer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

john; trick; whoremaster; whoremonger

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

client; customer (someone who pays for goods or services)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(card games) in a single round, the sequence of cards played by all the players; the high card is the winner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("trick" is a kind of...):

play; turn ((game) the activity of doing something in an agreed succession)

Domain category:

card game; cards (a game played with playing cards)

• TRICK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they trick    ... he / she / it tricks   
Past simple: tricked   
Past participle: tricked   
-ing form: tricking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deceive somebody

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

flim-flam; fob; fox; play a joke on; play a trick on; play tricks; pull a fast one on; trick

Context example:

We tricked the teacher into thinking that class would be cancelled next week

Hypernyms (to "trick" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "trick"):

snooker (fool or dupe)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Derivation:

trick (a cunning or deceitful action or device)

tricker (someone who plays practical jokes on others)

trickery (the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them))

trickery (verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way)

 Context examples 

It was his old fighting trick.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“It was a trick,” cried John.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of a trick that would give her what she wanted.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

What tricks Theodore and I used to play on our Miss Wilsons, and Mrs. Greys, and Madame Jouberts!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The fellow is as full of tricks as the monkey-house at the Zoo.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Buck had a trick of love expression that was akin to hurt.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

In the new experiment, adding UV light to the hot chemical mix did the trick.

(Cooking up Alien Atmospheres on Earth, NASA)

“What wicked tricks are these?” said he.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He uses it in some of his tricks according to her account.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By lies and broken promises they had tricked him out of his story.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)