finagler

A brilliant finagler would have known when to stop.

A corporate finagler had played me for a sucker.

He was just another finagler, after all.

Finagler first appeared in the United States in 1922.

He was also the greatest finagler in the known Universe, who could produce virtually anything at any time under any conditions.

The softest judgment about him might be that he is a foolish philanderer and incurable finagler who needs counseling rather than impeaching.

In print, Mr. LeBow has been called everything from a "master finagler" to "a weaselly raider" and a vulture who targets distressed companies.

A crook he's not; a devious schemer the finagler remains, drawing minor opprobrium for his methods as well as a tut-tutting admiration for his ability to deliver results.

The musical is structured so that we see our mischievous finagler crafting his own story, introducing some numbers and then literally trying to sing and dance his way out of trouble.

The burden of it seems to be that he was a finagler who connived with a lot of other finaglers to give themselves paydays beyond the wildest dreams of Congressmen and baseball players.

If you were the kind of finagler who came out of the big Reagan hog roast of the 1980's with a mere, discreet handful of millions, Milken's billions offended your sense of decorum.

Reason: something about Milken cooperating with prosecutors to nail other finaglers, as he had been nailed by fellow finagler Ivan Boesky, who'd been pressured to nail Milken or spend life on the rock pile.

Mr. Ruckman, a sales executive who voted for Mr. Reagan in the 1980's and Mr. Perot last year, said he did not like Mr. Dole because "to me, he's a finagler."

Writing her biography "Sam Spiegel," Ms. Fraser-Cavassoni was determined to deal with all sides of this prismatic character, the con man who was "a great finagler" and the glamorous figure she knew when she was a teenager.

A finagler is one who knows the ins and outs of power brokerage and favor exchange, who finds ways to exploit the weaknesses of others, who knows how to use indirection to gain leverage and win some small but useful advantage.

Although Radar wants to rest, take a shower, and eat, he is cajoled by Col. Potter into helping Klinger acquire a generator, as it is believed that Radar, who over the years has become a master finagler, will be able to get one.

Camp Mooween (legend says the name means "brown bear" in some Indian tongue) was founded in 1921 by Barney (Cap) Girden, a minor-league inventor and major-league finagler whose business acumen was as absent as the funds to cover most of his checks.

He sketches many memorable characters from Bulgaria, including Stilyan, the shady finagler, decked out in polyester and pointy-toed boots, who insists on "helping" Mr. Hall when his bike breaks down; and Yordan, the monk who becomes an unlikely drinking partner one cold November evening.

But the political finagler in him was relieved that mischance had kept Mike's curious talents still a close secret-Jubal anticipated that he still might need them, as a secret weapon . . . not to mention the undesirability of trying to explain to skeptical strangers the present whereabouts of certain policemen plus two squad cars.