every trick in the book
3
4.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
todas las artimañas
- The teacher used every trick in the book to get her students interested in reading.
- use every trick in the book
- try every trick in the book
- pulled out every trick in the book
Examples
-
During the day, while he proceeded with his investigation, Gustav tried every trick in the book—a book he could have written—to catch sight of the person who was dogging his steps.
Fiction book (2002) -
I pulled out every trick in the book today.
-
Use every trick in the book and then some to push every child to be all he or she can be and then more.
Academic text (2006) -
They've used every trick in the book on him.
Fiction book (1992) -
And I used every trick in the book to make sure this blog post was syndicated and shared as widely as possible.
Blog text (11) -
They have used every trick in the book to wear us out, tire us out, and dislodge us from our resolve.
Blog text (21) -
Police used every trick in the book to get Michael to confess, according to a transcript of the interrogation, most of which was videotaped.
Academic text (1999) -
Just like timeshare and used car salesmen, they are using every trick in the book to convince the general public to do what they want them to do.
Blog text (17) -
He pulled out every trick in the book to win the game, surprising his opponents at every turn.
-
In negotiations, we must employ every trick in the book to secure the best deal possible.
Synonyms
11
4.1
A set of useful methods someone uses to solve problems
1
8.1
Using any way to get something done no matter what it takes
A set of clever methods a person uses to solve problems
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Morphology
every + trick + in + the + book
The phrase literally reads as 'all tricks that are in the book' so a learner who knows 'every', 'trick' and 'book' can infer it means all available or known methods; the spatial/prepositional structure is standard and compositional. The use of 'book' as a metaphor for a comprehensive source is a common, predictable extension (found cross-linguistically), so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the parts for an average B1 learner.
Etymology
Every trick in the book may come from the image of a book full of clever tricks and plans. Saying this means you tried them all, so it means 'every possible method' to get the result you want.