sleight of hand

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English

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Etymology

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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).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sleight of hand (countable and uncountable, plural sleights of hand)

  1. The required hand dexterity behind magic tricks and illusions.
  2. A performance of such skill.
  3. (by extension, idiomatic) Any form of skillful deception.

Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Arika Okrent (2019 July 5) “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss[1], Pocket, retrieved 2021-10-08