[In branch I not found till late in the 16th c.; app. f. TRICK sb. (The date of appearance is too late to refer it directly to Norman-Picard F. trikier, triquer.) Branches II and III are a little earlier, and may perh. be of different origin; the last is especially difficult to connect with the primary sense of the verb. Cf. sense 10 of the sb.]
I. 1. trans. To deceive by a trick; to cheat.
(In quot. 1630 with word-play on trick and trump at cards.)
1595, 1606. [see TRICKING vbl. sb. 1, TRICKER 1].
1630. B. Jonson, New Inn, I. i. When she [Fortune] is pleas’d to trick or tromp mankind, Some may be coats, as in the cards; but, then, Some must be knaves.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 94. However he tricks his Captain in other Things, his Plate and Dishes are every Day forth coming.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xiii. 104. To trick a gauger was thought an excellent joke.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, I. vii. He was often tricked about horses, which he pretended to know better than any jockey.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, I. ii. 235. ’Tis plain I have been tricked and overreached.
b. To cheat out of; to deprive of by trickery.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., Contents, p. vii. Syddy Jore trick’d out of his Life by Bullul Caun.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. ii. She tricks us of our money.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., III. lxxxi. 66. His belief that he who makes the wealth of the country is tricked out of his proper share in its prosperity.
c. To beguile into; to induce into by trickery.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 68. The Tide-waiter, voluntarily trick’d into a Game at All fours.
1801. Charlotte Smith, Lett. Solit. Wand., II. 240. Her contempt of one who could so basely contrive to trick her into his power.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ix. § 3. 625. To trick them into approval of a war with Holland.
d. absol. or intr. To practise trickery, to cheat.
a. 1700. Dryden, To Mr. Granville, 23. Thus they jog on, still tricking, never thriving.
1701. Penn, in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem., IX. 73. If in the least he tricks, use him accordingly.
1909. Nation, 2 Oct., 11/2. To the ignorant and superstitious everything tricks and deludes.
2. To get or effect by trickery or cheating. rare.
1662. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 178. London is a Theife will trick your purse as well as mine.
1895. G. S. Street, Introd. to Congreve’s Comedies, 25. The trick … of a tricked marriage is common in Congreve.
3. intr. To play tricks with; to trifle with.
1881. Stevenson, Virg. Puerisque, etc. (1895), 162. We may trick with the word life … until we are weary of tricking.
1913. Daily News, 23 Sept., 5. The fireman was ‘tricking’ with girls on the platform.
† 4. trans. To sophisticate or adulterate (wine, etc.). Obs. rare.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 66. This makes the Vintners to tricke or compasse all their naturall wines, if they bee a little hard, with Bastarde to make them sweeter.
1662. [see TRICKING vbl. sb. 1].
II. 5. trans. To dress, array, attire; to deck, prank; to adorn (usually with the notion of artifice). Const. with, in. Also intr. with it. Also fig.
a. 1500[?]. Mylner of Abyngton, 457, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 117. The wenche she was full proper and nyce,… For she coulde tricke it point device.
a. 1553. C. Bansley, Treat., xii. (Percy Soc.), 5. Sponge up youre vysage, olde bounsynge trotte, and tricke it wyth the beste, Tyll you tricke and trotte youre selfe, to the devyls trounsynge neste.
a. 1592. Greene, George-a-Greene, Wks. (Rtldg.), 266/2. Some peasants trick’d in yeoman’s weeds.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 123. Till civil-suited Morn appeer, Not trickt and frounc’t … But Cherchef’t in a comly Cloud.
1759. Mason, Caractacus, Poems 1830, II. 138. His clemency,… trick’d and varnish’d by your glossing penmen.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-Cap, III. 408. The late death chamber, tricked with trappings still.
1890. R. Bridges, Shorter Poems, II. 1. What musical array Tricks her sweet syllables.
b. Often strengthened with up, off, out.
c. 1533. Latimer, Lett., in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1316/1. A poore purgatory. So poore yt it should not be able to fede so fatte, and tricke vp so many idell and slouthful lubbers.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, x. 38. I cannot trick it up with poesies.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 27. That the King … to blinde the eyes of simple men had tricked up a Boy in the likenesse of Edward Plantagenet.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., III. v. To trick out young Ladies, upon their going into Keeping.
1821. Examiner, 19/2. She was well tutored and tricked off for the occasion.
1822. Scott, Fam. Lett., 18 Feb. I must trick out my dwellings with something fantastical.
1878. E. Jenkins, Haverholme, 153. Tricking out tables to look like altars.
c. transf. To dress up, to prepare (food). rare.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 10. A slight repast had therefore been tricked up from the residue of dinner.
† 6. To arrange, adjust, trim. Often in phrase to trick and trim. Cf. TRIG v.4 Obs.
1552. Elyot, s.v. Caesaries, Repexa caesaries, a busshe twise or thrise kemed and tricked.
1570. Levins, Manip., 120/33. To trick, or trim, concinnare.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1676), 624. Being not of authority … to take the stern in hand, and govern the ship, he took himself to tricking the sails.
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 206. He consumed so much time … in tricking and trimming his head.
1770. M. Bruce, Elegy, viii. On the green furze … The linnet sits, and tricks his glossy plumes.
1810. Southey, Kehama, VIII. ii. No human hand hath trick’d that mane From which he [the steed] shakes the morning dew.
III. 7. To sketch or draw in outline; to delineate or trace the outline of (obs.); spec. in Her., to draw (a coat of arms) in outline, the tinctures being denoted by initial letters (o, a, s, etc.) or by signs. Also with out.
(In many passages incorrectly used or confused with sense 5.)
1545. Elyot, Adumbro … some do suppose that it signifieth, to trycke a thynge, or drawe it grossely, as paynters doo at the begynnyng.
1562. Leigh, Armorie (1597), 106. This cote I had in the Monasterie of Saint Katherins besides the Towne of Rone, which for the rarenes therof I tricked.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, viii. (1596), 111. The boy … with his pen can tricke a horse to the life.
1657. Wood, Life, 14 Aug. (O.H.S.), I. 223. He … tricked out with his pen the ichnography of the church and cloyster and buildings adjoyning.
1859. Symonds’ Diary (Camden), Introd. 14. The … shields of arms recorded in the MS. are … ‘tricked,’… thus necessitating a description of the bearings.
1908. H. Hall, Formula Bk., I. 123. The feature of these instruments [Chancery, Warrants] … being the technical description of the arms which are usually tricked on the original.
