English

Alternative forms

• superchery
• superchiery

Noun

supercherie ‎(countable and uncountable, plural supercheries)

1. (obsolete) Foul play; an attack made by deceit. [16th-17th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.27:

     it is a Superchiery, […] as being wel armed, to charge a man who hath but a piece of a sword, or being sound and strong, to set upon a man sore hurt.

2. (now chiefly in French contexts) Deception, deceit; an instance of fraud. [from 17th c.]
   • 1863, Henry Rogers, ‘Critique on M. Renan's Vie de Jésus’:

     We […] should certainly deny to any teacher of morals, in any age, who resorted to such ‘supercherie’ and charlatanism, any very high place among the instructors and benefactors of mankind.

   • 2005, Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, 23 June:

     According to France's foreign minister, the British foreign secretary is guilty of perpetrating a supercherie.

French

Etymology

From Italian soperchieria.

Noun

supercherie f ‎(plural supercheries)

1. deception