trick

trick1 [ trık ] noun count **

▸ 1 something unfair/unpleasant

▸ 2 entertainment like magic

▸ 3 something not what it seems

▸ 4 effective way to do something

▸ 5 in card game

▸ + PHRASES

1. ) an unfair or unpleasant thing you do in order to harm someone or get an advantage for yourself:

a dirty/cruel/nasty trick: It was a very dirty trick to play on anyone.

a dirty tricks campaign: They had carried out a dirty tricks campaign against a rival airline.

a ) something you do in order to annoy someone or make people laugh at them, often by making them believe something that is not true:

play a trick on someone: I thought he was playing a trick on me.

your eyes are/your memory is playing tricks on you: Was it her, or were my eyes playing tricks on me?

2. ) a way of entertaining people by doing something that looks like magic:

For my next trick, I will make the balls disappear.

do a trick: He does this great trick with a hat and two rabbits.

3. ) something that is not really what it seems to be:

Did she really see a boat, or was it just a trick of the light?

4. ) an effective and skillful way of doing something:

There's a trick to folding up this umbrella.

the trick is: If you want to see her, the trick is to go early.

5. ) the cards that you play or win in one part of a card game

a bag/box of tricks

all of the special or secret methods someone has to help them achieve something

do the trick

to do what is needed in order to achieve something:

Her remedy certainly did the trick.

have a trick of doing something

to have a habit of doing a particular thing:

She had a trick of pausing in the middle of sentences.

have a trick up your sleeve

to have a plan that you can use if you need to

how's tricks? SPOKEN

used when you meet someone to ask how they are

not/never miss a trick

to notice everything that is happening

the oldest trick in the book

a dishonest method of doing something that you know about because it has been used many times before

show/teach someone a trick or two

to help someone by showing them how to do something:

I'm sure I could show you a trick or two to use in your job interview.

the tricks of the trade

quick and effective methods used by experienced people in a particular profession

try/use every trick in the book

to try/use every possible method in order to achieve something

turn a trick AMERICAN INFORMAL

to have sex with someone for money

up to your old/usual tricks

to be doing the same annoying or bad things you usually do

=> TEACH

trick

trick 2 [ trık ] verb transitive *

to make someone believe something that is not true:

I suddenly realized that I'd been tricked.

trick someone into doing something: He tricked me into believing that he was somebody famous.

trick someone out of something: You're not the first person to be tricked out of your savings.

=> TRICK OR TREAT

,trick `out or ,trick `up phrasal verb transitive usually passive

to decorate something in a particular way or wear a particular set of clothes:

The store was tricked out like a Middle Eastern bazaar.

trick

trick 3 [ trık ] adjective only before noun

1. ) used for tricking someone:

a trick question

2. ) AMERICAN used about a part of the body that is weak and does not work the way it should:

a trick knee