Search Result for "stratagem": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a maneuver in a game or conversation;
[syn: ploy, gambit, stratagem]

2. an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade;
- Example: "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track"
[syn: contrivance, stratagem, dodge]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stratagem \Strat"a*gem\, n. [F. stratag[`e]me (cf. Sp.
   estratagema, It. stratagemma), L. strategema, Gr. ?, fr. ? to
   be leader of an army, fr. ? a general; ? an army (probably as
   being spread out; cf. Stratum) + ? to lead. See Agent.]
   An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence,
   in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil
   machination.
   [1913 Webster]

         Fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

         Those oft are stratagems which error seem,
         Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. --Pope.
   [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

stratagem
    n 1: a maneuver in a game or conversation [syn: ploy,
         gambit, stratagem]
    2: an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or
       evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off
       the track" [syn: contrivance, stratagem, dodge]