English

Verb

finagle ‎(third-person singular simple present finagles, present participle finagling, simple past and past participle finagled)

1. (transitive) To obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods.
   • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

     Sequels to fish-out-of-water comedies make progressively less sense the longer a series continues. By the time Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles rolled around in 2001, 15 years after the first Crocodile Dundee became a surprise blockbuster, the title character had been given an awfully long time to grow acclimated to those kooky Americans. Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.

   ...finagle a day off from work.‎

2. (transitive, intransitive) To cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods. (often with "out of" preceding the object)

   ...shady stockbrokers who finagle their clients out of fortunes.‎

Derived terms

• finagler

Translations

References

1. ↑ “finagle” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

• finagle, The Word Detective, February 12th, 2008

Anagrams

• leafing