FINESSE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Finesse

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/fɪnˈɛs/ Listen

noun

Finesse n.

Subtilty of contrivance to gain a point; artifice; stratagem. "This is the artificialest piece of finesse to persuade men into slavery."

(Whist Playing) The act of finessing. See Finesse, v. i., 2.

verb

Finesse v. i. (past & past part. finessed; pres. part. finessing)

To use artifice or stratagem.

(Whist Playing) To attempt, when second or third player, to make a lower card answer the purpose of a higher, when an intermediate card is out, risking the chance of its being held by the opponent yet to play.

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Etymology of 'Finesse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Finesse" Quotes from Famous Books

... for our own self-respect to treat him with courtesy. Our pride will not permit us to accept this from him and make no return. It may be Yankee cunning which led him to foresee this, for I suppose it is pleasing to many of the tribe to gain their ends by finesse. Probably if this doesn't secure them, he will try harsher methods. Anyway, as long as he plays at the game of courtesy, we, as sister says, should teach him that we know what the word means. The mischief is that you never can know just what a Yankee is scheming ...

— Miss Lou • E. P. Roe

... "I will not lie down," he said. "Seriously, and since you refuse to treat me as a man, and since you finesse with me, I will try and set you at bay, as a hunter does ...

— The Man in the Iron Mask • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... would have been remarkable anywhere for personal activity, for courage, readiness, hardihood, and all those qualities which render a man useful in the business to which he properly belonged; but he could hardly be termed a skilful leadsman, knew little of the finesse of his calling, and was wanting in that in-and-in breeding which converts habit into an instinct, and causes the thorough seaman to do the right thing, blow high or blow low, in the right way, and at the ...

— The Sea Lions - The Lost Sealers • James Fenimore Cooper

... must have taken his degree from some college of venders, his call has such finesse. I cannot reproduce the lilt of it—"Here's where you get your horoscope, a dime, ten cents." It is suggestive of the midways of country fairs, shooting galleries on the Board Walk, and circuses in the springtime. "Here's ...

— Vignettes of San Francisco • Almira Bailey

... is foiled at argument, she generally has recourse to finesse. Lady Mary had made up her mind to carry her point; finding therefore the right column of her vengeance turned by the smart attack of D'Almaine's raillery, she was determined to out-flank him with her whole park of well-appointed artillery, consisting of all those endearing, solicitous ...

— The English Spy • Bernard Blackmantle

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