Gambit
/ˈɡæmbɪt/
noun
a chess opening in which a player risks one or more pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position
The term 'gambit' originates from the Italian word 'gambetto' which means 'to trip up'. In chess, a gambit involves sacrificing something to achieve a strategic goal.
See how Stephen King, Frank Herbert and 5 other authors use "gambit", with its meaning, pronunciation and real book examples.
Examples from books
Her son had probably been the first to see it–his training hadn’t overlooked that obvious gambit.
Frank Herbert
Dune
Am I to be sent back to England, there to starve?” It’s a clumsy gambit, but it works.
Gregory Maguire
Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister
The captain mumbled, “I come from Miran.” The man returned the gambit, grimly.
Isaac Asimov
Foundation 2 - Foundation and Empire
I’m glad you could come,' Rubber Ed told him, resuming his own seat, 'although in these cases the student's mother or father-' This was the opening gambit, of course.
Stephen King
Apt Pupil
It was a little conversational flourish, a gambit in the polite game.
Aldous Huxley
Crome Yellow
If instructed to inform the King diplomatically that the subsidy of the month could not at present be increased, he would ring up Mecca and say, “Lord, Lord, there is no more money.” As for lying, he was not merely incapable of it, but also shrewd enough to know that it was the worst gambit against players whose whole life had passed in a mist of deceits, and whose perceptions were of the finest.
T. E. Lawrence
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
I am not speaking metaphorically; nor is this the opening gambit of some melodramatic, riddling, grubby appeal for pity.
Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children: A Novel
“Do you think us unaware of how you were driven back here by your enemies?” My most dangerous gambit.
Frank Herbert
Chapterhouse: Dune
