trick
♦ trick /tr'ɪk/ (tricks tricking tricked)
1 [N-COUNT]
A trick is an action that is intended to deceive someone.
We are playing a trick on a man who keeps bothering me.
2 [VERB] V n, V n into -ing/n, V way prep/adv
If someone tricks you, they deceive you, often in order to make you do something.
Stephen is going to be pretty upset when he finds out how you tricked him...
His family tricked him into going to Pakistan, and once he was there, they took away his passport...
His real purpose is to trick his way into your home to see what he can steal.
3 [N-COUNT]
A trick is a clever or skilful action that someone does in order to entertain people.
He shows me card tricks.
4 [N-COUNT]
A trick is a clever way of doing something.
Tiffany revamped her sitting room with simple decorative tricks.
5
see also confidence trick, conjuring trick,
6 [PHRASE] V inflects
If something does the trick, it achieves what you wanted. (INFORMAL)
Sometimes a few choice words will do the trick.
7 [PHRASE] v PHR
If someone tries every trick in the book, they try every possible thing that they can think of in order to achieve something. (INFORMAL)
Companies are using every trick in the book to stay one step in front of their competitors.
8 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If you say that something is a trick of the light, you mean that what you are seeing is an effect caused by the way that the light falls on things, and does not really exist in the way that it appears.
Her head appears to be on fire but that is only a trick of the light.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects, with brd-neg
If you say that someone does not miss a trick, you mean that they always know what is happening and take advantage of every situation. (INFORMAL)
10 [PHRASE] trick inflects
The tricks of the trade are the quick and clever ways of doing something that are known by people who regularly do a particular activity.
11 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If you say that someone is up to their tricks or up to their old tricks, you disapprove of them because they are behaving in the dishonest or deceitful way in which they typically behave. (INFORMAL)
I have no respect for my father who, having remarried, is still up to his old tricks.con|fi|dence trick (confidence tricks)
[N-COUNT]
A confidence trick is a trick in which someone deceives you by telling you something that is not true, often to trick you out of money. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use confidence game)con|jur|ing trick (conjuring tricks)
[N-COUNT]
A conjuring trick is a trick in which something is made to appear or disappear as if by magic.dirty trick (dirty tricks)
[N-COUNT] usu pl
You describe the actions of an organization or political group as dirty tricks when you think they are using illegal methods to harm the reputation or effectiveness of their rivals.
He claimed he was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign..trick or treat
[N-UNCOUNT]
Trick or treat is an activity in which children knock on the doors of houses at Halloween and shout `trick or treat'. If the person who answers the door does not give the children a treat, such as sweets or candy, they play a trick on him or her.trick ques|tion (trick questions)
[N-COUNT]
If someone asks you a trick question, they ask you a question which is very difficult to answer, for example because there is a hidden difficulty or because the answer that seems obvious is not the correct one.
1 [N-COUNT]
A trick is an action that is intended to deceive someone.
We are playing a trick on a man who keeps bothering me.
2 [VERB] V n, V n into -ing/n, V way prep/adv
If someone tricks you, they deceive you, often in order to make you do something.
Stephen is going to be pretty upset when he finds out how you tricked him...
His family tricked him into going to Pakistan, and once he was there, they took away his passport...
His real purpose is to trick his way into your home to see what he can steal.
3 [N-COUNT]
A trick is a clever or skilful action that someone does in order to entertain people.
He shows me card tricks.
4 [N-COUNT]
A trick is a clever way of doing something.
Tiffany revamped her sitting room with simple decorative tricks.
5
see also confidence trick, conjuring trick,
6 [PHRASE] V inflects
If something does the trick, it achieves what you wanted. (INFORMAL)
Sometimes a few choice words will do the trick.
7 [PHRASE] v PHR
If someone tries every trick in the book, they try every possible thing that they can think of in order to achieve something. (INFORMAL)
Companies are using every trick in the book to stay one step in front of their competitors.
8 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If you say that something is a trick of the light, you mean that what you are seeing is an effect caused by the way that the light falls on things, and does not really exist in the way that it appears.
Her head appears to be on fire but that is only a trick of the light.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects, with brd-neg
If you say that someone does not miss a trick, you mean that they always know what is happening and take advantage of every situation. (INFORMAL)
10 [PHRASE] trick inflects
The tricks of the trade are the quick and clever ways of doing something that are known by people who regularly do a particular activity.
11 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If you say that someone is up to their tricks or up to their old tricks, you disapprove of them because they are behaving in the dishonest or deceitful way in which they typically behave. (INFORMAL)
I have no respect for my father who, having remarried, is still up to his old tricks.con|fi|dence trick (confidence tricks)
[N-COUNT]
A confidence trick is a trick in which someone deceives you by telling you something that is not true, often to trick you out of money. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use confidence game)con|jur|ing trick (conjuring tricks)
[N-COUNT]
A conjuring trick is a trick in which something is made to appear or disappear as if by magic.dirty trick (dirty tricks)
[N-COUNT] usu pl
You describe the actions of an organization or political group as dirty tricks when you think they are using illegal methods to harm the reputation or effectiveness of their rivals.
He claimed he was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign..trick or treat
[N-UNCOUNT]
Trick or treat is an activity in which children knock on the doors of houses at Halloween and shout `trick or treat'. If the person who answers the door does not give the children a treat, such as sweets or candy, they play a trick on him or her.trick ques|tion (trick questions)
[N-COUNT]
If someone asks you a trick question, they ask you a question which is very difficult to answer, for example because there is a hidden difficulty or because the answer that seems obvious is not the correct one.