finesse

Etymology

From Middle English finesse (“degree of excellence; (of metal) fineness, purity”), from Middle French finesse, Old French finesse (“fineness; delicacy; slenderness”), from fine, fin (“fine, thin”) (from Latin fīnis (“end”); compare Middle English fīn (“of superior quality; precious, valuable; admirable, pleasing; pure, refined; fineness, purity; delicate, exquisite, fine; sharp, thin”)) + -esse (suffix forming nouns describing the condition of being something). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (uncountable) 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— […] 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, →OCLC; reprinted Augusta, Me.: Maine State Museum, June 1970, →OCLC, page 340
   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, →OCLC, 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. … Complete in Eight Volumes, 5th edition, volume IV, Paris: A[nthony] & W[illiam] Galignani and Co.,[…], →OCLC, 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). 2 Feb 2021, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian
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. 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,[…], →OCLC, page 164
3. (countable) An adroit manoeuvre.
   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, →OCLC, 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
4. (countable, card games) 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. 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,[…], →OCLC, 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. 22 October 2013, 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

verb

1. (transitive, chiefly Canada, US, politics) To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem.
   1. (transitive, intransitive) To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way.
      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. 1835, chapter XIV, in Finesse. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley,[…], →OCLC, page 240
      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. 2010 May, Kim Atkinson, “Working among the Good & Bad”, in Island Parent Magazine, Victoria, B.C.: Krayenhoff-Holland Enterprises, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-02-05; quoted in Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Fikile Nxumalo, Laurie Kocher, Enid Elliot, Alejandra Sanchez, “Thinking Together”, in Journeys: Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Practices through Pedagogical Narration, Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 2015, page 128
      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. 2011, Yael Braha, Bill Byrne, quoting Stacy Nimmo, “The Essentials of Typography and Time [Interview: Stacy Nimmo on Title Design]”, in Creative Motion Graphic Titling for Film, Video, and the Web, Burlington, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Focal Press, page 108
      After making the original capture[…], I sat down to finesse it in Photoshop. 2015, Nylora[-Joy] Bruleigh, “Just beyond Reach: Lighting, Posing, and Styling; Postproduction”, in Fine Art Portrait Photography: Lighting, Posing & Postproduction from Concept to Completion, Buffalo, N.Y.: Amherst Media, page 62
      Finesse a nigga with some counterfeits, but now I'm countin' this / Parmesan where my accountant lives, in fact I'm downin' this 30 March 2017, Kendrick Duckworth, Michael Williams II, Asheton Hoga (lyrics and music), “Humble”, in Damn, performed by Kendrick Lamar
      So with valuable extra time to finesse its passenger handling and communications strategies, NR set its sights on rescheduling the work to begin this December instead. September 23 2020, Paul Stephen, “East Coast upgrade: changes to schedule... but on schedule”, in Rail, page 30
   2. (transitive, slang) To obtain something from someone through trickery or manipulation.
      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." 2020, Racquel Williams, Finessed a Dope Boy's Heart
2. (intransitive, card games) To attempt to win a trick by finessing.
   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 [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “The Third Hand”, in The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played Completely through, 7th edition, London: Bancks Brothers[…], →OCLC, part I (General Principles), page 41
3. (transitive, card games) 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. 1864, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “The Third Hand”, in The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played Completely through, 7th edition, London: Bancks Brothers[…], →OCLC, 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. 1 March 1874, “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, →OCLC, page 235
4. (intransitive, croquet, 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. 1870 August, Cavendish [pseudonym; Henry Jones], “Croquet in 1870”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume V (New Series), London: W. H. Allen & Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 308