A crooked, cunning, or wily action or device; a trick, wile, or artifice. Frequently coupled with wile.

Deceit, deception, treachery; an act of deception, a trick.

An adroit turn; a trick or subtilty. (Cf. braid, v.1 II.; Old Norse bregðask to change unexpectedly, disappoint, deceive; Old English brægd-boga a…

Skill or ingenuity used to deceive, mislead, or to secure an unfair advantage. As a count noun: an example of cunning or deceitful behaviour; a…

A crafty, cunning, or deceitful trick; a sly, insidious, or underhand artifice; a stratagem, ruse. Formerly sometimes in somewhat wider sense: A…

figurative. A crooked piece of conduct; a trick, artifice, wile; deceit, guile, trickery. Obsolete.

failure, lack; deceit.

With a and plural. An instance of this; a deceit, stratagem, trick, wile. Obsolete.

Hitch, obstacle; interruption; chicane, trick.

A trick, stratagem; = blench, n.

A delusion, trick. Obsolete. rare.

With a and plural. An instance of deceit, an act of treachery, a trick.

A cunning trick; an artful device or design; a piece of subtle dealing or policy, intended to deceive or mislead; an artifice, ruse, stratagem, or…

A trick; a device, artifice; formerly often, a deceitful or crafty device, a mean or underhand trick; later esp. an adroit or ingenious method of…

(with a and plural) An instance of deception; an act or device intended to deceive; a trick, stratagem, wile.

A trick, a device to deceive or cheat. Obsolete since 1515, but used by Scott.

A trick, prank; often, a device to deceive, a piece of trickery, a pretence; also a game, sport, or pastime. Obsolete.

transferred and allusively. An argument or something ironically or humorously regarded as such, esp. a specious or subtle argument or piece of…

A delusive fancy; a trick or deception. Obsolete.

Scottish. A trick, a prank; a jest, a quip. Obsolete.

An act or scheme designed to deceive or entrap, a trick, stratagem, artifice, wile. Also: a lie, a false story.

Cunning action, trickery; a stratagem, a trick (always in an evil sense).

Perversion of the truth; deceit, deception; an instance of this. Also: heresy.

figurative. A crooked device; a trick, artifice, contrivance. Obsolete.

A crafty or fraudulent device of a mean or base kind; an artifice to deceive or cheat; a stratagem, ruse, wile; esp. in phrase to play (show) one a…

Deceit, stratagem, ambush, trick.

Deception, trick.

A curious or clever ornament or device. Also: a cunning trick. Now rare.

An act; a brief stint or ‘go’ at an activity or undertaking; a try or attempt at doing something. In early use also: an attempt at deceiving, a…

Scottish. A trick, an artifice, a cunning device. Obsolete.

Of a balance, measure: Not truly adjusted, incorrect. Also, Of play: Unfair. Of dice: Loaded so as to fall unfairly. false point n. a stroke of…

A scheme, a conspiracy; a stratagem, a trick. Frequently in plural. Now rare.

An intricate, esp. deceptive, turn or twist of thought, speech, etc.; an intricate deception or sleight. Obsolete.

A paltry attempt at deception; a contemptible trick or pretence; a piece of humbug. Cf. flam, n.1 3.

A trick, deception, befoolment. to give (any one) the bob: to mock, make a fool of, impose upon.

A contrivance, dodge, stratagem, trick; also, a fetch of law, a fetch of policy, a fetch of state, and to cast a fetch.

Imposture, deceit; delusion; an instance of this. Obsolete.

‘A scheme, contrivance; generally used in a bad sense.’ (Jamieson.) Scottish. Obsolete.

A crooked or tortuous action; a crafty device; a trick or wile. Obsolete.

A deeply-laid or cunning stratagem.

A deception.

A trick. to give one the (or a) slampant, to play a trick on, to circumvent or hoodwink, one.

A trick, stratagem, or wile.

Invention, excogitation; fictitious invention, fiction. Now only poetic. Formerly also with more reproachful sense: †Deception, lying; a…

figurative. A crooked or deceitful way; a deceit, wile, sleight. Obsolete.

figurative. A complication, an aberration; a quirk, a snag, a wrinkle; something obscured, concealed, or hidden away, esp. in order to mislead or…

a cheat, trick, swindle, deception.

(with a and plural) An act of cozening; a deception, a fraud; a result or embodiment of cozening, a piece of deception.

A tight grip on a person, esp. (Wrestling) a hold on a particular limb or part of the body, used to restrain another person or prevent him or her…

A pun or quibble; a trick.

A piece of roguery, trick.

A trick, cheat.

A trick, dodge, subterfuge. Also, a freak, prank, caprice.

An act of gaining an advantage by deception; a trick; (Cards) an act of cheating when dealing. Cf. overreach, v. 5. Obsolete.

A trick, an artifice. Now only slang, to come the fob on (U.S.): to impose upon, cheat, trick.

A deception or mocking.

A petty trick, sleight, artifice, subterfuge.

A sham story, fabrication, falsehood; a piece of deception, a trick.

A shifty trick, an artifice to elude or cheat.

A fanciful notion; also, a ‘dodge’, underhand design. Obsolete.

A trick, an imposture.

A piece of juggling; a trick or act of skill performed by legerdemain; a conjurer's trick, esp. one claiming to be done by magic or occult influence…

A devious or dishonest scheme, trick, or ploy. Cf. stratagem, n. 2a. Obsolete.

? A deception: cf. jilt, v. 2. Obsolete.

A piece of unfair treatment or underhand dealing.

An act of fraud or deception; a trick played on a person; a joke. Scottish (Orkney and Shetland) in later use.

The process of juggling; a piece of juggling; a juggler's trick.

figurative and in figurative contexts. A trick, an artifice. Obsolete. rare.

A trick.

colloquial. A dishonest or fraudulent scheme or enterprise; a trick, a swindle. Also: something used to deceive or defraud a person.

That which deceives; a piece of trickery; a cheat, sham.

Used allusively, esp. in reference to the †boorishness, cunning, sharpness, or trickery attributed to Yorkshire people. to come (or put) Yorkshire o…

A scheme or device (typically for some dishonest purpose), a ploy, a dodge, a trick; (sometimes more vaguely) a thing, an item.

In earliest use: an activity or action, typically one characterized by dishonesty or deception. Later (from the mid to late 19th century) usually…

colloquial. A practical joke; a trick. Obsolete.

= deceptiveness, n.; also concrete a thing of deceptive character.

a doubling; an evasion, artifice, shift.

slang. A trick, dodge.

colloquial (originally Australian and New Zealand, in later use also South African). A trick, a scam.

slang. U.S. A dishonest scheme or stratagem; a trick, a deception.

colloquial (originally and chiefly Australian and New Zealand). An act of deception or trickery; a swindle, a hoax; a ruse. Cf. have, v. 15c, have-on…

A trick, artifice, (stage) device.

Originally Theatre slang, A joke or comic gag introduced into the performance of a piece by a clown or comedian, esp. a comic phrase or saying…

to pull a fast one, to put over a fast one, and variants: (slang, originally U.S.) to take advantage of someone by trickery; to deceive. Hence fas…

Australian. A joke; a trick, deception; (also) an unfair practice. Esp. in to put a roughie over.

Nautical. Line composed of two or more rope-yarns not laid but simply twisted together by a winch or by hand. Also in combinations, as spun-yarn major…

An act of deception; a trick. Esp. in to pull a fastie: to trick or attempt to trick a person by doing something ingenious; to deceive someone (cf. to…

Nonsense, humbug; something fraudulent or fake. Also as int.

An act of faking someone out (in various senses of to fake out at fake, v.2 phrasal verbs); a deception or deliberate misrepresentation; a bluff…

A deception; a confidence trick or swindle.

A disturbing or revelatory experience, esp. one which is drug-induced or is caused by deliberate psychological manipulation. Also: deception.