sleight of hand
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English
Etymology
From Middle English slegthe of hande, sleght of hond, equivalent to sleight + of + hand.
Compare Old French léger de main (cf. the contemporary French léger de main and the contemporary English legerdemain).
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
sleight of hand (countable and uncountable, plural sleights of hand)
- The required hand dexterity behind magic tricks and illusions.
- A performance of such skill.
- (by extension, idiomatic) Any form of skillful deception.
Synonyms
Translations
skill
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performance
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skillful deception
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References
- ^ Arika Okrent (2019 July 5) “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss, Pocket, retrieved 2021-10-08