Word.ws English Dictionary

shell games

shell games is the plural of shell game.

Meaning of shell game

Noun

shell game (plural shell games)

  1. A game of skill which requires the bettor to guess which of three small cups (or shells) a pea-sized object is concealed under, after the party operating the game rapidly rearranges them, providing opportunity for sleight-of-hand trickery.
    • Another common form of short con is the shell game. This scam has the advantage of giving the criminal the ability to rip off many marks all at one location.2009, Michael Benson, Cons and Frauds, Infobase, →ISBN, page 21
    Synonyms:
    thimblerig
  2. Any confidence scheme, especially one involving the rapid movement of investment funds to a location beyond recovery.

Questions about shell games

What is shell games the plural of?
Shell games is the plural of shell game.

Words near shell games in the dictionary

  1. shell companies
  2. shell company
  3. shell corporation
  4. shell corporations
  5. shell game
  6. shell games
  7. shell ginger
  8. shell gingers
  9. shell gold
  10. shell gravel
  11. Shell Haven

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shell games (page history and authors); shell game (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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