three-card monte
Americannoun
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a gambling game in which the players are shown three cards and bet that they can identify one particular card of the three, as stipulated by the dealer, after the cards have been moved around face down by the dealer.
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a form of three-card stud poker.
Etymology
Origin of three-card monte
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These characters are fluent in three-card monte rap, no cards required.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
But these dynamics are uncertain in a play that treats identity like a game of three-card monte.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
If you see anyone playing three-card monte or a shell game, just keep walking.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
A starry 20th-anniversary revival of “Topdog/Underdog,” her Pulitzer Prize-winning fable about two brothers, three-card monte and one troubling inheritance, is in previews on Broadway.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
Yakov won the first two games, but when it came time to find the Lady at three-card monte, he uncovered a worthless heart.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
