verb

finagle

fih-NAY-gul/fɪˈneɪɡl/

To get or arrange something by clever, indirect, or dishonest means.

The customer finagles a ticket by slipping cash beneath the counter.

At a sold-out event's ticket counter, a customer finagles admission by discreetly passing cash beneath the counter's side opening while the attendant slips her a ticket above it.

Etymology

Finagle may be related to dialectal fainaigue, “to cheat or renege” at cards, whose origin is unknown. That possible connection links card-table cheating with obtaining something deviously.

In context

Entrepreneurship with Peter Christo28:11

but how did you finagle use of a Mainframe you would have had to have done a deal

#026 Ian McGregor – Market Research Stalwart, Investor and Mentor.

More examples

We finagled an invitation through a friend of the host.
He is finagling extra funding by disguising personal expenses as research.
Can you finagle a day off without using vacation time?

Forms

finagle · finagles · finagled · finagling

finagler noun — Someone who obtains things through clever maneuvering.

Similar words

wangle: Similarly informal, often emphasizing persuasion rather than dishonesty.
engineer: Emphasizes deliberate planning and control, not necessarily dishonest methods.