1. (n.) An attempt to deceive or lead into error; a falsehood\; any declaration, artifice, or practice, which misleads another, or causes him to believe what is false; a contrivance to entrap; deception; a wily device; fraud.

2. (n.) Any trick, collusion, contrivance, false representation, or underhand practice, used to defraud another. When injury is thereby effected, an action of deceit, as it called, lies for compensation.

art artful dodge artfulness artifice blind cheating chicane chicanery con con game conspiracy contrivance coup craft craftiness cunning cute trick deceitfulness deception defrauding design device dishonesty dissemblance dissimulation dodge double-cross double-dealing duplicity expedient fakement falseheartedness falseness feint fetch flam flimflam fraud fraudulence furtiveness gambit game gimmick grift guile gyp hanky-panky hoax humbug hypocrisy indirection insidiousness intrigue jugglery knavery little game maneuver misrepresentation monkey business move overreaching plot ploy racket red herring ruse scam scheme sell sham shift shiftiness sleight slyness sneak attack sneakiness stratagem strategy subterfuge surreptitiousness swindle tactic trapping treacherousness treachery trick trickery underhandedness wile wily device