[f. prec.: app. first used in vbl. sb. and pr. pple.] intr. To practise the cheat of the thimblerig; also fig. to cheat in a juggling manner or as with sleight of hand. b. trans. To manipulate (a matter or thing) in this manner. So Thimblerigged ppl. a., duped by the game of thimblerig; disturbed or affected by thimblerigging, as a market; = RIGGED ppl. a.2; Thimblerigging vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1839. Thackeray, Catherine, i. Don’t let us have any juggling and thimblerigging with virtue and vice. Ibid. (1840), Cruikshank, Wks. 1900, XIII. 310. The different degrees of rascality, as exhibited in each face of the thimblerigging trio. Ibid. Is any man so blind that he cannot see the exact face that is writhing under the thimblerigged hero’s hat?
1887. Frith, Autobiog., I. xxi. 271. Gambling tents and thimble-rigging … had not then been stopped by the police.
1889. Mivart, Orig. Hum. Reason, 92. That ‘intellectual thimble-rigging’ which all men of the sensist school … must perform.
1892. Labour Commission, Gloss., Thimblerigged, an expression in general use descriptive of speculative operations in the stock, produce, or other markets by combination for other than legitimate trade or market requirements.
1899. Daily News, 31 Jan., 5/3. M. Lebret passes quickly over the legal aspect of the case—thimblerigs it so to speak.
