CHICANE, the pettifogging subterfuge and delay of sharp law-practitioners, also any attempt to gain unfair advantage by petty tricks. A more common English form of the word is "chi canery." Chicane was also used until recent years as a term in the game of bridge for the points a player might score if his hand contained no trumps. Chicane is no longer scored, but the term is still used. The word is French, derived either from chaugan, Persian for the stick used in the game of polo, still played on foot and called chicane in Languedoc (cf. the military use of chicaner, to take advantage of slight variations in ground), or from chic, meaning little or petty, from the Spanish chico, small.