- trick
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 deceptionADJECTIVE▪ cheap, cruel, dirty, mean, nasty▪
The press accused the president of dirty tricks in his election campaign.
▪ stupid▪ funny▪ little▪ con (informal), confidence (both BrE)VERB + TRICK▪ play, pull, try, use▪We decided to play a little trick on the teacher.
▪ fall for▪She won't fall for such a stupid trick.
▪ know, learn▪He's learned a trick or two in his time working in the tax office.
TRICK + VERB▪ workTRICK + NOUN▪ questionPHRASES▪ a trick of the light▪A trick of the light made it look like she was pregnant.
▪ a trick or two▪I could teach him a trick or two (= show him a better way to do things).
▪ every trick in the book (= all methods, honest or not)2 clever way of doing sth that works wellADJECTIVE▪ special▪ clever, good, neat▪Another neat trick is to add lemon peel to the water.
▪ handy, nifty (informal), useful▪ old▪He used the old trick of attacking in order to defend himself.
▪ real▪The real trick is predicting the market two years down the line.
PREPOSITION▪ trick for▪a trick for getting out red wine stains
▪ trick to▪There's no trick to it—you just need lots of practice.
PHRASES▪ have a trick up your sleeve (= a plan to use if necessary)▪I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
▪ the trick is to …▪The trick is to keep your body still and your arms relaxed.
▪ the tricks of the trade3 skilled actADJECTIVE▪ clever, difficult▪ simple▪ card, conjuring, disappearing, magic▪ parlour/parlor (old-fashioned, esp. AmE), party▪ camera▪ rhetorical▪These rhetorical tricks are common in political speeches.
▪ accounting▪the kinds of accounting tricks that get CEOs into trouble
VERB + TRICK▪ do, employ, perform▪Very few camera tricks are employed.
▪ learn▪ teach sbTRICK + VERB▪ workTRICK + NOUN▪ photographyPHRASES▪ (you can't) teach an old dog new tricks (= it is difficult to make people change their ideas, etc.){{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}verbTrick is used with these nouns as the object: ↑way{{Roman}}III.{{/Roman}}adj.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
