sleight of hand

Noun

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

1. The required manual dexterity used to perform magic tricks and illusions.
   • A large portion of natural magic and sleight of hand is only the severance of sights and feels that we are accustomed to experience in unison.1856, Alexander Bryan Johnson, The Physiology of the Senses, page 65
   • Frequently this practitioner would keep a stock of elf-shot from which one would be produced by sleight of hand from the ailing animal's flank as evidence that it had indeed been elf-shot.1976, Ulster Folklife
2. A performance of such a skill.

   Synonyms:

   legerdemain, prestidigitation, conjuration, conjuring, dweomercraft, hocus-pocus, illusionism, jugglery, magic, palmistry

3. (broadly, figuratively) Any form of clever or skillful trickery or deception.
   • "Gave his consent! For his son to marry an actress?"
     "Ah, there was a little sleight of hand there. He only knew Miss Roscastle as Miss Eileen O'Rourke, the last representative of a line of Irish kings. […]"1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
   • The Man Who Broke Britain (BBC2) was a heady concoction of fact and fiction. Real politicians assured us everything was going to be just fine while actors, playing city traders, groaned that it was hopeless, hopeless. It was part of the film's sleight of hand that the actors, who were deliberately...2004 December 10, Nancy Banks-Smith, “Review: Financial crimes”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2024

   Synonyms:

   jugglery, subterfuge, deception, imposition, hype, deceit, dupery, fiddle, fetch, hocus-pocus