finagle

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(fə-nā'gəl) pronunciation

v. Informal, -gled, -gling, -gles.

v.tr.
  1. To obtain or achieve by indirect, usually deceitful methods: finagle a day off from work.
  2. To cheat; swindle: shady stockbrokers who finagle their clients out of fortunes.
v.intr.
To use crafty, deceitful methods.

[Probably from dialectal fainaigue, to cheat.]

finagler fi·na'gler n.

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verb

  1. To make, achieve, or get through contrivance or guile: engineer, finesse, worm. Informal wangle. See get/lose, make/unmake.
  2. To take clever or cunning steps to achieve one's goals: jockey, maneuver. Idioms: pullstringswires. See control/uncontrol, means.

Quotes By:

Finagle

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Quotes:

"Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse."

verb intr.
verb intr.

1:
To scheme, intrigue. (1922 —) .

2:
trans. To manipulate, alter, or obtain by fraudulent or underhanded means. (1927 —) .
Wall Street Journal The young president...already has finagled a $2 billion loan from the Japanese government (1989).

[Alteration of British dialect fainaigue cheat, of unknown origin.]


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Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'finagler'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to finagler, see:

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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - snyde sig til, opnå ved snyd
v. intr. - snyde, fuppe

Nederlands (Dutch)
bedriegen

Français (French)
v. tr. - se débrouiller pour avoir, obtenir par subterfuge
v. intr. - se débrouiller pour avoir, escroquer, (US) magouiller

Deutsch (German)
v. - unehrlich handeln

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - σκευωρώ ή αποκτώ με μηχανορραφία

Italiano (Italian)
brigare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - trapacear

Русский (Russian)
добиться нечестным путем, получить по блату

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - maquinar, tramar
v. intr. - maquinar, tramar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - mygla till sig, fiffla

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
欺骗, 欺瞒, 哄骗

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 欺騙, 欺瞞, 哄騙
v. intr. - 欺騙

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 속이다, 속임수 쓰다
v. intr. - 잘 변통하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - うまく工面する, せしめる, 小細工をする, だます

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يخدع , يستخدم أساليب ملتويه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮השיג בתחבולות, השיג באמצעים עקיפים, הונה, רימה‬
v. intr. - ‮השיג בתחבולות, השיג באמצעים עקיפים, הונה, רימה‬


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Mentioned in

Who Knew?: M*A*S*H (TV Episode) (1982 Comedy Drama TV Episode)
Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958 Thriller Film)