slight 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
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

   Synonyms:

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