sleight of hand
14
7.5
- noun
- /slaɪt əv hænd/
:
prestidigitación
- The money disappeared as if by sleight of hand into his trouser pocket.
- there is sleight of hand
That's, you know, unless you're doing some weird linguistic sleight of hand, that's just not going to be the case, right?
- That's, you know, unless you're doing some weird linguistic sleight of hand, that's just not going to be the case, right?
- It's the ultimate sleight of hand, the switching of the masks, the shape shifting move that they're so good at.
Examples
-
I practiced my sleight of hand in a mirror I propped up.
Fiction book (1993) -
It has roots in the sleight of hand card magic world and it was a small flourish used to accentuate an effect.
-
You can do a little sleight of hand.
-
And that, my dear boy, is sleight of hand.
-
The young man works quickly, with the skilled sleight of hand that comes with long practice.
Fiction book (2001) -
With this playful sleight of hand, Fielding kills two birds with one stone.
Academic text (2004) -
I hadn't seen it, but suddenly there it was, as if through some sleight of hand or a summoning from the abyss.
Fiction book (2002) -
And the point was indeed demonstrated—with the help, it must be said, of some sleight of hand.
Academic text (2011) -
Doyle, don't tell me he's an unemployed magician, amusing the neighbourhood with his sleight of hand.
-
The magician's performance relied heavily on his incredible sleight of hand, captivating the audience with each trick.
Synonyms
∞
3.2
Power that makes impossible things happen, often in stories or rituals
23
8.8
Skill in using the hands to do magic tricks secretly
16
5.3
Skill and ease when using the hands or body
3
9.9
A performance using quick, skilled hand movements to do magic tricks
2
9.9
A skill of quick hand tricks to fool people, like a magician
Antonyms
How Skillful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'sleight' denotes skillful manipulation and 'hand' specifies the instrument, so together they yield 'skillful use of the hands to deceive or perform tricks.' A learner who knows both constituents can therefore infer the MWE's meaning without needing idiomatic knowledge, even though 'sleight' as a standalone word is relatively rare.
Etymology
Sleight of hand comes from the image of very quick, clever hands used by magicians or card cheats to hide or move small things. Here sleight means skill and hand is the hand, so the phrase now means the skill used 'to trick' or amaze people.