Word of the Day

: June 8, 2007

thimblerig

verb THIM-bul-rig

What It Means

1 : to cheat by trickery

2 : to swindle by a trick in which a small ball or pea is quickly shifted from under one to another of three small cups to fool the spectator guessing its location

thimblerig in Context

The appraiser looked closely at the painting and then reluctantly told us that we had been thimblerigged into buying a worthless copy.

Did You Know?

The game of thimblerig seems innocent enough. The thimblerigger places a seed under one of three thimbles. He or she deftly scoots the thimbles around on a table, then asks the player to bet on which one hides the seed. But thimbleriggers are masters of sleight of hand and can move and manipulate the seed unfairly -- so the guileless player doesn't stand a chance of winning. (The poor bettor is probably unaware that "rig" has meant "to manipulate or control usually by deceptive or dishonest means" since the 1800s.) When the same sham is played with nutshells, it's called a "shell game," and there's a related game played with cards known as "three-card monte."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.