Subterfuge, n.
Etymology: [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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for subterfuge; he lists it under artifice, pretense.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.