English Reference
Idiom idiom

how's tricks


Informal greeting roughly equivalent to How are you? or How's it going?

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

Hey, long time no see — how's tricks?

CONTEXTUAL

He bumped into an old colleague at the coffee shop and asked, "How's tricks?" with a grin.

COMPLEX

The retired boxer spotted his former trainer across the pub, raised his glass, and called out, "How's tricks, you old rascal?" — a greeting unchanged by thirty years.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bag of tricks

    A set of skills, techniques, items of information, or other resources used to help achieve professional or personal goals.

  2. 02

    do the trick

    To work; to be successful; to solve a problem; to be sufficient or adequate to fulfill a purpose.

  3. 03

    Jedi mind trick

    A mental feat such as apparently inducing someone to act a certain way or reading someone's mind, achieved as if by magic or telepathy.

  4. 04

    know every trick in the book

    To know all there is to be known about a certain discipline.

  5. 05

    penny-come-quick

    [Cockney slang]a trick

  6. 06

    trick of the trade

    A shortcut or other quick, or very effective way of doing things, that professional workers learn from experience.

  7. 07

    trick question

    A question that attempts to elicit an answer in a certain way, usually incorrectly (i.e. that seems to have an obvious answer that is however incorrect), or a question that does not have a correct answer or that hides the real question or some difficulty.

  8. 08

    trick up one's sleeve

    Synonym of ace up one's sleeve.

Last updated August 10, 2026