"trick of the trade" meaning in English

See trick of the trade in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-trick of the trade.ogg [Australia] Forms: tricks of the trade [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|tricks of the trade}} trick of the trade (plural tricks of the trade)
  1. (idiomatic, chiefly in the plural) A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience. Tags: idiomatic, in-plural Translations (techniques learned from job experience): kneepjes van het vak [plural] (Dutch), klappen van de zweep [neuter] (Dutch), ammattiniksi (Finnish), ammattikikka (Finnish), ficelles du métier [feminine, plural] (French), trucchi del mestiere [masculine, plural] (Italian), 職歴によって学んだ秘訣 (shokureki ni yotte mananda hiketsu) (Japanese), tajemnica handlowa [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-trick_of_the_trade-en-noun-p3fjtrux Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for trick of the trade meaning in English (3.5kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tricks of the trade",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tricks of the trade"
      },
      "expansion": "trick of the trade (plural tricks of the trade)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1858, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 130",
          "text": "For the most part, he has some knack, or trick of the trade, which by close inspection can be delected, and so the heart of his mystery be seen into.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 520",
          "text": "There is no trick of the trade which he does not know, no artifice which he does not which he does not habitually practise.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14",
          "text": "We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Ed van Hinte, Under Cover: Evolution of Upholstered Furniture, page 60",
          "text": "Most customers won't notice this trick of the trade, since the part is not sat upon.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience."
      ],
      "id": "en-trick_of_the_trade-en-noun-p3fjtrux",
      "links": [
        [
          "shortcut",
          "shortcut"
        ],
        [
          "professional",
          "professional"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly in the plural) A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "in-plural"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "kneepjes van het vak"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "klappen van de zweep"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "word": "ammattiniksi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "word": "ammattikikka"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "ficelles du métier"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "tags": [
            "masculine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "trucchi del mestiere"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shokureki ni yotte mananda hiketsu",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "word": "職歴によって学んだ秘訣"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "tajemnica handlowa"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-trick of the trade.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "trick of the trade"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tricks of the trade",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "tricks of the trade"
      },
      "expansion": "trick of the trade (plural tricks of the trade)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1858, Thomas Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, page 130",
          "text": "For the most part, he has some knack, or trick of the trade, which by close inspection can be delected, and so the heart of his mystery be seen into.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 520",
          "text": "There is no trick of the trade which he does not know, no artifice which he does not which he does not habitually practise.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14",
          "text": "We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Ed van Hinte, Under Cover: Evolution of Upholstered Furniture, page 60",
          "text": "Most customers won't notice this trick of the trade, since the part is not sat upon.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "shortcut",
          "shortcut"
        ],
        [
          "professional",
          "professional"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly in the plural) A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "in-plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-trick of the trade.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ab/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/En-au-trick_of_the_trade.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "kneepjes van het vak"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "klappen van de zweep"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "word": "ammattiniksi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "word": "ammattikikka"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "ficelles du métier"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "trucchi del mestiere"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shokureki ni yotte mananda hiketsu",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "word": "職歴によって学んだ秘訣"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "techniques learned from job experience",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "tajemnica handlowa"
    }
  ],
  "word": "trick of the trade"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.