hey presto
hey presto interjection: used by stage magicians, when performing a magic trick.
Interjection
- Used by stage magicians, when performing a magic trick.
- Synonyms:
- abracadabra, alakazam, hey pass, hocus-pocus, kazaam, presto, presto chango, shablam, shazam
- Indicates a sudden desirable conclusion or change, as if by magic
- If you take the next left, you’ll see a big shop and hey presto, you’re there.
- They stick a couple of old potshards together, search for one or two adjacent cultures, stick a label on the restored find and—hey, presto!—once again everything fits splendidly into the approved pattern of thought.1968, Erich von Däniken, Chariots of the Gods?, Putnam
Synonyms of hey presto
Questions about hey presto
- What does hey presto mean?
- Hey presto means used by stage magicians, when performing a magic trick.
- What part of speech is hey presto?
- Hey presto is an interjection.
Words near hey presto in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hey presto (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hey presto.wav.
Cite this entry: “hey presto.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hey_presto. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
