[syn: cavil, carp, chicane]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chicane \Chi*cane"\, v. i. [Cf. F. chicaner. See Chicane, n.]
To use shifts, cavils, or artifices. --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chicane \Chi*cane"\, n. [F., prob. earlier meaning a dispute,
orig. in the game of mall (F. mail), fr. LGr. ? the game of
mall, fr Pers chaug[=a]n club or bat; or possibly ultimated
fr. L. ciccus a trible.]
1. The use of artful subterfuge, designed to draw away
attention from the merits of a case or question; --
specifically applied to legal proceedings; trickery;
chicanery; caviling; sophistry. --Prior.
[1913 Webster]
To shuffle from them by chicane. --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
To cut short this chicane, I propound it fairly to
your own conscience. --Berkeley.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Card playing) In bridge, the holding of a hand without
trumps, or the hand itself. It counts as simple honors.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
chicane
n 1: a bridge hand that is void of trumps
2: a movable barrier used in motor racing; sometimes placed
before a dangerous corner to reduce speed as cars pass in
single file
3: the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract
money from them) [syn: trickery, chicanery, chicane,
guile, wile, shenanigan]
v 1: defeat someone through trickery or deceit [syn: cheat,
chouse, shaft, screw, chicane, jockey]
2: raise trivial objections [syn: cavil, carp, chicane]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
28 Moby Thesaurus words for "chicane":
artifice, bamboozle, befool, cavil, chicanery, dishonesty,
double-dealing, feint, flimflam, fool, fraud, furtiveness, gambit,
gull, hanky-panky, hoax, hoodwink, maneuver, ploy, ruse,
sharp practice, stratagem, surreptitiousness, trick, trickery,
underhandedness, victimize, wile