four-card monte
- noun
- /fɔr kɑrd ˈmɒnteɪ/
- Jargon
:
monte de cuatro cartas
- Police arrested the scam artists for running a four-card monte game downtown.
Examples
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After losing money to a four-card monte scheme, she warned her friends to be cautious of street games.
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Unlike the traditional version, four-card monte adds an extra card to make it more confusing.
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The street hustler convinced several bystanders to try their luck at four-card monte.
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He was tricked by a four-card monte game in the park.
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Have you ever played four-card monte before?
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The street performer was caught cheating during his four-card monte act in the busy square.
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He watched helplessly as the swindler made quick money with his four-card monte tricks.
Surface Forms
Morphology
four-card + monte
The phrase is compositionally built from 'four-card' (indicating a variant using four cards) plus 'monte' (a card game/con trick), so its meaning as a four-card variant of the monte swindle is directly derivable. This follows the transparent pattern of numeral + noun + game name (e.g. 'three-card monte'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Four-card monte comes from a street card trick where a dealer shows four cards and moves them very fast to hide the winning one. Players try to guess the right card but are cheated by quick hand moves, so the name now often means a 'scam' or clever trick to steal money.
