thimblerig

English
WOTD – 26 July 2016
L’Escamoteur (The Conjurer, c. 1502, detail) by Hieronymus Bosch and/or his workshop, collection of the Musée Municipal in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France, France. A man of rank is shown peering spellbound at a game of cups and balls, similar to thimblerig, operated by a conjurer. (The full painting can be viewed here.)

Etymology

thimble +‎ rig

Pronunciation

Noun

thimblerig (plural thimblerigs)

  1. 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.
  2. One operating such a game.

Synonyms

Translations

Verb

thimblerig (third-person singular simple present thimblerigs, present participle thimblerigging, simple past and past participle thimblerigged)

  1. To cheat in the thimblerig game.
  2. To cheat by trickery.

See also
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