shell game

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See synonyms for shell game on Thesaurus.com

noun

a sleight-of-hand swindling game resembling thimblerig but employing walnut shells or the like instead of thimblelike cups.

any deceit, swindle, fraud, or the like.

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Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of shell game

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Words nearby shell game

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, shellfire, shellfish, shellfishery, shellflower, shell game, shell gland, shell jacket, shell-like, shell out, shell pink

How to use shell game in a sentence

It’s just this shell game of information about how our system is operating.
US covid contract details are a “trade secret”—according to the contractors|Cat Ferguson|April 12, 2021|MIT Technology Review
No one has been a bigger perpetrator of this shell game lie than Emmert.
The NCAA’s shell game is the real women’s basketball scandal|Sally Jenkins|March 25, 2021|Washington Post
The Wall Street shell game can be viewed another way—through those literal markets that always stay ahead of the regulators.
Wall Street Outsmarts Congress|Randall Lane|July 15, 2010|DAILY BEAST
You see,” he explained, moving to the washstand, “this shell game is easy enough when you know how.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective|Ellis Parker Butler

Even in this here simple little shell game I got to have a podner.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective|Ellis Parker Butler
Where would you find a man to run your shell game while you was gone?
Plowing On Sunday|Sterling North
Psionics hadn't done away with anything including the old shell game.
The Big Fix|George Oliver Smith
My impression was that if he had said "shell game" he would have more accurately stated his case.
Northern Nut Growers Association Thirty-Fourth Annual Report 1943|Various

British Dictionary definitions for shell game

shell game

noun

the US name for thimblerig

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

shell game

Origin of shell game

Words nearby shell game

Words related to shell game

How to use shell game in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for shell game