1. (n.) 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.

2. (n.) To use shifts, cavils, or artifices.

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