thimblerig

One who operates a thimblerig.

To swindle with or as if with a thimblerig.

To cheat by means of thimblerig, or sleight of hand.

A sleight-of-hand trick played with three small cups shaped like thimbles, and a small ball or pea.

A sleight-of-hand trick played with three small cups, shaped like thimbles, and a small ball or little pea.

To swindle by means of small cups or thimbles, and a pea or small ball placed under one of them and quickly shifted to another, the victim laying a wager that he knows under which cup it is; hence, to cheat by any trick.

A game of skill which requires the bettor to guess under which of three small cups (or thimbles) a pea-sized object has been placed after the party operating the game rapidly rearranges them, providing opportunity for sleight-of-hand trickery; a shell game.

One operating such a game.

To cheat in the thimblerig game.