Definition of "finesse"

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— […]

1829, Moses Greenleaf, “Grants and Sales of Land”, in A Survey of the State of Maine, in Reference to Its Geographical Features, Statistics and Political Economy, Portland, Me.: Published by Shirley and Hyde; reprinted Augusta, Me.: Maine State Museum, June 1970, page 340

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.

1830, Walter Scott, chapter II, in Tales of a Grandfather; being Stories Taken from Scottish History. […] In Three Vols. (Third Series), volume III, Edinburgh: Printed [by Ballantyne and Company, […]] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall; Dublin: John Cumming, page 68

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.

1836, De Voltaire, Abner Kneeland, “FINESSE, FINENESS, &c.: Of the Different Significations of This Word”, in [J[ohn] G. Gorton], transl., A Philosophical Dictionary; from the French of M. de Voltaire. With Additional Notes, both Critical and Argumentative, 1st American stereotype edition, Boston, Mass.: Printed and Published by J[ohn] Q[uincey] Adams, page 344, column 1

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

1840, John Lingard, chapter I, in A History of England, from the First Invasion by the Romans. , page 29

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).

2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian‎

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.

1791, J[ohn] Long, “Visit Fort George.—Remarkable Instance of Courage in a Mohawk Indian.—Return to England.—Enter into a New Engagement, and Return to Canada, with Merchandise for the Indian Commerce.”, in Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader, Describing the Manners and Customs of the North American Indians; […], London: Printed for the author; and sold by Robson, […], page 164

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; […]

1836, S[ereno] E[dwards] Dwight, “The Law of Incest”, in The Hebrew Wife: Or The Law of Marriage Examined in Relation to the Lawfulness of Polygamy and to the Extent of the Law of Incest, New York, N.Y.: Leavitt, Lord & Co., […]; Boston, Mass.: Crocker & Brewster, page 181

[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.

1984, Gregory Paul P. Meyjes, “An Auxiliary Language for the World: General Outline”, in The Choice of an Auxiliary Language for the World: Perspectives within the Context of Contemporary Linguistics, [Munich]: GRIN Verlag; Open Publishing GmbH, section 2.1.2.3 (All Kinds of Linguistics Communication), page 6

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.

1850, “Short Whist: Its System and Science”, in Henry G[eorge] Bohn, editor, The Hand-book of Games: Comprising New or Carefully Revised Treatises on Whist, Piquet, Ecarté, Lansquenet, Boston, Quadrille, Cribbage, and Other Card Games; […] (Bohn’s Scientific Library), London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], part IV (Whist by the Editor), page 185

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.

2013 October 22, Joe Blatnick, “Finesses (One More Time)”, in Bridge: A Thinker’s Game: How You Think is More Important than What and Thinking Comes before Doing, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, page 134

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.

1876, “Government and Laws”, in William Harcus, editor, South Australia: Its History, Resources, and Productions, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], page 38

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

2013, James F[ranklin] Harris, “The Supreme Court”, in The Serpentine Wall: The Winding Boundary between Church and State in the United States, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, part III (Church and State in the Modern United States), page 185

[…] 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 […].

2015, Howard M[orley] Sachar, “The Death of Giacomo Matteotti”, in The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942: A Political History, Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, page 82

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

2018, John C. Hull, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives, 10th edition, Pearson, page 276

In the first round of a suit, you should generally, / 8. PLAY YOUR HIGHEST CARD THIRD HAND. / a. In order to strengthen your partner. You presume that he leads from his strong suit, and wants to get the winning cards of it out of his way […]; you, therefore, do not finesse […], but play your highest, remembering that you play the lowest of a sequence […]. With ace, queen (and, of course, ace, queen, knave, &c., in sequence) you do finesse, for, in this case, if the king is in the fourth hand, it must make, unless single, which is very improbable; and by putting on the ace, you make the king good, if against you.

1864, Cavendish , part I (General Principles), page 41

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.

1864, Cavendish , part I (General Principles), page 42

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.

1874 March 1, “Whist Jottings—Stupidity”, in The Westminster Papers. A Monthly Journal of Chess, Whist, Games of Skill, and the Drama, volume VI, London: W. Kent & Co., […], and W. W. Morgan, […]; Edinburgh: J. Menzies & Co.; Dublin: McGlashan & Gill, page 235

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.

1870 August, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “Croquet in 1870”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume V (New Series), London: W. H. Allen & Co., […], page 308