bag of tricks
11
4.1
- noun
:
caja de trucos
- In her bag of tricks, she always keeps a few creative ideas to solve unexpected problems at work.
And from then on, that was my bag of tricks or whatever right back there.
- And from then on, that was my bag of tricks or whatever right back there.
- You haven't had the time to develop a bag of tricks.
- The narcissistic person approaches a new relationship with a bag of tricks.
- Like you can talk about many, many things that compilers do, but to me it's about a bag of tricks.
- And when it, when that doesn't come easily, I don't really have a bag of tricks to go to and or a method, you know, I don't.
- This mystery, this this bag of tricks, if you will.
- And I've gained those bags of tricks, you know, and you gained that and, and people that are new in it are like, huh, like I will like, huh.
Examples
-
It's as though well-liked people have a bag of tricks, a magic, or a Midas touch that turns everything they do into success.
Blog text (11) -
She had a whole bag of tricks for remembering names and faces.
Fiction book (1998) -
First up in our bag of tricks, instead of turning our power target up, we're going to turn it down.
-
I have several in my bag of tricks.
-
You got that in your bag of tricks?
-
But what else does the president have in his bag of tricks?
Blog text (2) -
Successful teachers use a bag of tricks.
Academic text (2015) -
He really captivated everybody with an incredible bag of tricks.
-
Luckily, experience had provided me with a bag of tricks and strategies for responding to and managing these factors—or so I thought.
Academic text (2000) -
Affordable, safe, and nutritious, Visalus Shakes should be part of every dieter's bag of tricks, because they will help every person who struggles to lose weight.
Blog text (9)
Synonyms
3
4.6
All possible methods someone uses to get something, often using clever or dishonest actions
A set of clever methods a person uses to solve problems
How Useful
14
7.2
- Specialized
8
3.7
11
4.1
∞
2.2
879
3.3
764
2.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
bag + of + trick
The meaning is directly compositional: 'bag' (a container) + 'tricks' (clever methods) naturally yields a container holding tricks, i.e. a collection of techniques. The 'bag of X' construction commonly denotes a set or reserve across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely infer this figurative but transparent sense.
Etymology
Bag of tricks comes from the picture of a magician's bag full of small tricks and useful tools he can pull out to amaze people. So when someone says bag of tricks they mean 'a collection of clever ways or tools' a person uses to solve problems or get results.