subterfuge (subterfuj)

[F. subterfuge = Sp. Pg. subterfugio = It. sutterfugio, By forgery, by subterfuge of law. Cowper , Task, ii. 670. We may observe how a persecuting spirit in the times drives the greatest men to take refuge in the meanest arts of subterfuge. I. D'Israeli, Calam. of Authors, II. 276. =Syn. Shift, etc. (see evasion ), excuse, trick, quirk, shuffle, pretense, pretext, mask, blind.