Subterfuge \Sub"ter*fuge\, n. [F., from LL. subterfugium, fr. L. subterfugere to flee secretly, to escape; subter under + fugere to flee. See {Fugitive}.] That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. --I. Watts. By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this position safe by rendering it nugatory. --Burke. web1913

subterfuge n : something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity; "he wasn't sick--it was just a subterfuge"; "the holding company was just a blind" [syn: {blind}] wn