thimblerig noun & verb. ['Ɵɪmb(ǝ)lrɪg] E19.
[from THIMBLE noun + RIG noun⁴.]
A. noun. A sleight-of-hand game or trick usually played with three inverted thimbles and a pea, the thimbles being moved about and bystanders encouraged to place bets or to guess as to which thimble the pea is under. Cf. shell-game s.v. SHELL noun & adjective. E19.
b. verb. Infl. -gg-.
1. verb intrans. Play the game or trick of thimblerig. Also fig., cheat; behave in an adroit or underhand manner. M19.
■ Thackeray Juggling and thimblerigging with virtue and vice.

2. verb trans. Manipulate or manage in an adroit or underhand manner. M19.
Daily News Lebret passes..over the legal aspect of the casethimblerigs it so to speak.

■ thimblerigger noun (a) a professional swindler who cheats by thimblerigging; (b) fig. an adroit manipulator: M19.

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