a game in which the operator rapidly moves about three inverted thimbles, often with sleight of hand, one of which conceals a token, the other player betting on which thimble the token is under
verbWord forms: -rigs, -rigging or -rigged
2. (transitive)
to cheat or swindle, as in this game
Derived forms
thimblerigger (ˈthimbleˌrigger)
noun
Word origin
C19: from thimble + rig (in obsolete sense: a trick, scheme)