finesse

noun

1. (uncountable)A skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation.

   “It is not impossible that this bold attempt to wrest from this State and Nation, so large and important a frontier territory; with the insidious arts, and unblushing finesse and chicanery, with which the British pretensions have been managed, may yet awaken the American people from their apathy on the subject— […]”

   “When Lovat finally took the resolution of dispatching his son, with the best part of his clan, to the assistance of Charles Edward, a resolution which was not adopted without much hesitation and many misgivings, he feigned, with characteristic finesse, an apology for his march.”

   “Finesse is not exactly subtlety; we draw a person into a snare with finesse; we escape from it with subtlety. We act with finesse, and we play a subtle trick. Distrust is inspired by an unsparing use of finesse; yet we almost always deceive ourselves if we too generally suspect it.”

   “The Treaty of Madrid called into action the diplomatic finesse, or rather the low cunning of the English cabinet.”

   “Kelly and Christensen, and their relentless courtship of people who like to position themselves against mainstream orthodoxy, allow that welcoming signal to be sent without senior players in government being caught on the sticky paper (apart from Michael McCormack, who blunders in periodically trying to court the politically estranged with all the finesse of an exploding cigar).”

2. (uncountable)The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill.

   “An Indian known by the name of Silver Heels, from his superior agility, as well as his admirable finesse in the art of war, and who had killed more of the enemy than any one of the tribes in alliance with Great Britain, accidentally came into the fort just before the soldier was to receive his punishment, and expressed his displeasure that a man should be so shamefully disgraced.”

3. (countable)An adroit maneuver.

   “The first inroads on our laws of incest were made at the instigation, and by the secret management, of some of our "prime nobles," who had either seduced, or married, or pledged themselves to marry a wife's sister; and who wished by this finesse, to escape, at once, public odium and personal responsibility; […]”

   “[A] simplified version of English, called Basic English, […] is mainly intended for tangibles like business and scientific cooperation, and the designer of which renounces the intention of catering for the finesses of cultural exchange or diplomacy.”

4. (countable)In bridge, whist, etc.: a technique which allows one to win a trick, usually by playing a card when it is thought that a card that can beat it is held by another player whose turn is over.

   “The Finesse Proper.—When, upon the invite of your partner, you refuse to force with your strongest card, or one of equal strength, you are in the case of the finesse proper. Holding the ace, queen, and ten, and taking with the queen, is a simple finesse; that is, a finesse to the king.”

   “Here we are going to examine finesses from a negative standpoint. Those players who take finesses wherever and whenever they appear will seldom give any thought to what might happen if the finesse were to lose. And this is why taking or shunning a finesse is an option which shouldn't be exercised without much prior thought.”

verb

1. (Canada, US, transitive)To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.

   “It is said that democratic institutions necessarily lead to political corruption. I can only say that it has not been so in this Colony. Members have schemed, finessed, log-rolled, to serve their districts, but never to put money in their own pockets.”

   “The founders deliberately finessed other issues concerning religion and the relationship between church and state to ensure the ratification of the Constitution.”

   “[…] Britain's Prime Minister David Lloyd George finessed the distinction between "indemnification" and "reparations" by insisting that his government's pension payments to the families of fallen soldiers should also be categorized as 'civilian" damages, thus making the recipients eligible for "reparations" to the tune of at least $110 billion[…].”

   “Almost miraculously, [risk-neutral valuation] finesses the problem that we know hardly anything about the risk aversion of the buyers and sellers of options.”

2. (Canada, US, ambitransitive, transitive)To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.

   “Distressed as she was, she rose the next morning determined to contend with her feelings,—to think no more of Trevor,—and to finesse no more for a husband—she had had enough of it.”

   “As the children continue to shoot one another, I ask them some questions about guns. […] [M]ost revealing to me is that the children fully agree that they are playing a pretend game. The bad guys "really hurt people" and Freddie knows it because he "plays" it. Really hurting in pretend play … the children are not confused by this finessing of real and pretend. I think it is we adults who are confused by it.”

   “When we get the script and we have a piece that's being written to or being created around a voiceover, we'll generally do a scratch voiceover track here and time it out to that, then get the real voiceover and do some finessing there.”

   “After making the original capture[…], I sat down to finesse it in Photoshop.”

   “Finesse a nigga with some counterfeits, but now I'm countin' this / Parmesan where my accountant lives, in fact I'm downin' this”

3. (Canada, US, slang, transitive)To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.

   “I was tryin'a finesse you outta them drawers, and you finessed a nigga out his heart," he said with a chuckle, "But that's cool. 'Cause I know it's in good hands."”

4. (intransitive)To attempt to win a trick by finessing.
5. (transitive)To play (a card) as a finesse.

   “The ace is certainly to your left, you therefore finesse the ten, for if your left-hand adversary holds ace and knave he must make them both; but otherwise, your ten forces the ace, and you are left with the best.”

   “Again, no amount of writing, and apparently no amount of practice, will induce a player to see that it is not always right to finesse an Ace Queen. We have seen all the trumps out. We have led a suit (Hearts) of which our partner had Ace, Queen, and two long Clubs; he finessed the Queen, and did not make his two Clubs. […] Twice in a fortnight have we have the Ace Queen finessed when two cards only remained in each hand and one trump was in.”

6. (intransitive, obsolete)To play a ball out of the way of an opponent.

   “Blue finesses to the further boundary, intending to come to his partner next time with black, hoping that if yellow comes after these balls, he may pass the boundary and so lose the break. […] Black has now to play; he finesses to another boundary.”