thimblerig
noun/ˈθɪmbəlɹɪɡ/US
Etymology
From thimble + rig.
Definitions
A game of skill which requires the bettor to guess under which of three small cups (or…
A game of skill which requires the bettor to guess under which of three small cups (or thimbles) a pea-sized object has been placed after the party operating the game rapidly rearranges them, providing opportunity for sleight-of-hand trickery; a shell game.
- He’ll muddle away the Begum’s fortune at thimble-rig, be caught picking pockets, and finish on board the hulks.
- ‘Great Barnums?’ says I. ‘You're a ringer for a circus thimblerig man.’
One operating such a game.
To operate a thimblerig game.
- Old Pratt is a different kind of crook—a psalm-singing, pussyfooted old buccaneer, teaching a Bible class on Sundays and thimblerigging in Wall Street on week days.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
To cheat (someone) by trickery.
- The favor is to you. I do not permit any man to thimblerig his debts to me into my debts to him.
The neighborhood
- neighborthree-card monte
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for thimblerig. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA