thimblerig
English
WOTD – 26 July 2016
Etymology
![](Images/wiktionary/Image-Hieronymus_Bosch_051-crop_woman.jpg.webp)
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.)
From thimble + rig.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈθɪmbəlɹɪɡ/
Audio (RP) (file) - Hyphenation: thim‧ble‧rig
Noun
thimblerig (countable and uncountable, plural thimblerigs)
- 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.
- Synonym: shell game
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, OCLC 2057953:
- He’ll muddle away the Begum’s fortune at thimble-rig, be caught picking pockets, and finish on board the hulks.
- One operating such a game.
- Synonym: thimblerigger
Translations
sleight-of-hand betting game
|
person operating such a game
|
Verb
thimblerig (third-person singular simple present thimblerigs, present participle thimblerigging, simple past and past participle thimblerigged)
- (intransitive) To cheat in the thimblerig game.
- (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) To cheat (someone) by trickery.
See also
- three-card monte
Further reading
thimblerig on Wikipedia.Wikipedia