three-card monte
1
9.9
- noun
- /θriː kɑrd ˈmɒnti/
:
monte
- Outside, gamers laid cardboard on the ground to play three-card monte.
- three-card monte game
- play three-card monte
I mean, I think it's one thing to scam if you're like broke on the street, you know when you're playing three card Monte to like live.
- I mean, I think it's one thing to scam if you're like broke on the street, you know when you're playing three card Monte to like live.
Examples
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At the fair, a dealer was showing off his skills in three-card monte, trying to fool the eager players.
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On three occasions so far, he had encountered old greasy-fat women sitting at tables offering to tell fortunes for ten francs each, and he had even run into one three-card monte game, all highly illegal.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hey, you playing three-card monte with those kids again?
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As I see it, the system is a game of three-card monte.
Blog text (27) -
Ante up, five in the chute, three-card monte.
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I mean, I think it's one thing to scam if you're like broke on the street, you know when you're playing three card Monte to like live.
-
Three-card monte.
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If I hadn't been nailed in Illinois for running a three-card monte in between sets, I never would have taken off for New York.
Fiction book (1996) -
Gamblers offered shell games and three-card monte; booze and sex could be purchased at the wink of an eye.
Academic text (1994) -
When I saw the group gathered around the table, I realized they were playing three-card monte to win some cash.
Synonyms
3
9.9
A card gambling game where players bet on which of three face-up cards matches first
Surface Forms
Morphology
three-card + monte
The constituents 'three-card' (indicating three cards) plus 'monte' (a betting card game) allow a B1 learner to infer that this refers to a card game involving three cards, so part of the meaning is compositional. However, the crucial pragmatic sense — that it is commonly a street swindle/trick used to cheat people out of money — is a usage-specific, idiomatic nuance not predictable from the parts alone, making the overall MWE only partially transparent to learners.
Etymology
Three-card monte comes from a street card trick where a dealer shows three cards, moves them very fast, and hides the target so players guess wrong. Because the dealer uses quick sleight to take people's money, the phrase now means 'a scam' or 'to cheat' people.