trick

I. n

1a.

a prostitute's client

► 'Sandy had invited two girlfriends to live with them who gave Ordell "rent money", twenty per cent of what they made enter-taining tricks, so it wasn't like Ordell was pimping.' (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, 1978)

1b.

a session or transaction between a prostitute and client

These senses of the word have been cur-rent in the USA since the first decade of the 20th century. They derive from the no-tion of an entertainer's 'turn' or stratagem. Trick has appeared in British English since World War II, often in the phrases 'on a trick' or turn a trick.

2.

American

a promiscuous female. An expression used on campus in the USA since around 2000.

► Mary slept with the whole team; she's such a trick.

II. vb

American

to sell sexual favours for money. This derivation from the noun form has not crossed the Atlantic.

► Whenever she runs out of dope she goes out tricking.

III. adj

a.

fancy, attractive and sophisticated. A 1980s term used by enthusiasts in fields where high technology is admired.

► A legendary homemade speed machine dominated the bike park last summer: a Kawasaki-powered, Harris-framed, turbo-charged, nitrous oxide-assisted rocket. To bikers, this bike is "trick", very trick.' (Independent, 6 April 1988)

b.

attractive, fashionable. From the mid-1990s the term was adopted by adolescents as a synonym for cool. The phrase 'totally trick' was used in a TV advertisment for plastic toy effigies of the 'Butt-ugly Martian' cartoon characters in April 2001.

IV. trick (out)

vb

American

to decorate, embellish, customise. The term has been in vogue in hip hop cul-ture and among car and motorcycle enthusiasts since the 1990s.