turning tricks
Commercial sexual services
Turning tricks is slang for engaging in prostitution—performing sex acts for money.
The phrase treats each transaction as a discrete unit, a trick: She's been turning tricks to pay for her habit.
The expression is direct but not clinical, belonging to street vernacular rather than legal or social work contexts.
Street-based prostitution
- solicitingActively seeking responses
- sex workPaid erotic labor
- escortOne who accompanies another
- johnInformal toilet term
client · red-light district · hustle · vice · solicitation · pick-up · stroll · trade
Professional fraud perpetrator
- grifterPetty fraud perpetrator
- scamDishonest money-making scheme
- swindleDeception for financial gain
- hustleEnergetic, aggressive action
flimflam · ruse · scheme · fraud · confidence game · mark · dupe · bamboozle
Skillful manual deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- misdirectionIntentional focus manipulation
- prestidigitationSkillful hand-based illusions
- conjuringPerforming magical illusions
stage magic · close-up magic · disappearing act · levitation · escapology · Houdini · showmanship · abracadabra
streetwalking
Street-based prostitution
- solicitingActively seeking responses
- sex workPaid erotic labor
- escortOne who accompanies another
john · client · red-light district · hustle · vice · solicitation · pick-up · stroll · trade · outcall
con artist
Professional fraud perpetrator
hustle · flimflam · ruse · scheme · fraud · confidence game · mark · dupe · bamboozle · shell game
sleight of hand
Skillful manual deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- misdirectionIntentional focus manipulation
- prestidigitationSkillful hand-based illusions
conjuring · stage magic · close-up magic · disappearing act · levitation · escapology · Houdini · showmanship · abracadabra · magician
turning tricksabstinence
Voluntary forgoing of indulgences
chastity · conjugal relations · celibacy · making love · lovemaking
turning, tricks, turn, trick, turned, turner, turns, tricky, trickery