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sleight of hand
Also sleight-of-hand.
[sleight n.1]
1. Dexterity or skill in using the hand or hands for any purpose; expertness in manipulation or manual action.
[c1400Destr. Troy. 10306 Achilles..flange at the knight, [and] Slough hym full slawthly with sleght of his hond. c1425Non-Cycle Myst. Plays 24 Of hand to have such slight, To make ship less or mare. ]c1460Towneley Myst. xxiii. 157 Let now se who dos the best with any slegthe of hande. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. viii. Wks. 1709 III. 70 There's nothing to be learn'd there [at gaming-houses], unless it be Slight of Hand,..sometimes at the Expence of all our Money. 1760Johnson Idler No. 90 ⁋3 By slight of hand, or nimbleness of foot, all these wonders can be performed. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. ii. ii. 87 A peculiar play of the muscles, or sleight of hand, is necessary to perform the simplest operation in the..most expeditious manner. 1862Fraser's Mag. July 75 A power not fitful or got forth by any sleight-of-hand, but resolutely worked for.
transf. and fig.1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 50 Here Fools by Slight of Hand, are converted into Wits. 1829Carlyle Misc. (1840) II. 56 Were the public once to penetrate into this his [a playwright's] sleight of hand, it were all over with him.
b. In reference to jugglery, conjuring, or performances of a similar kind.
1622Fletcher Beggar's Bush iii. i, Will ye see any feats of activity, Some Sleight of hand, Legerdemain? 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2539/4 William Bradshaw..pretending to slight of Hand and swallowing Knives. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 395/2 Some of them were forced to get their bread by showing tricks of sleight of hand. 1853C. Brontë Villette xxii, You know my skill in sleight of hand: I might practise as a conjuror if I liked.
2. With a and pl. A dexterous trick or feat; a piece of nimble juggling or conjuring.
c1605? Rowley Birth Merlin iv. i, I must keep some other company if you have these sleights of hand. 1699R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1725) 22 While they pretend to lay one gift upon the altar, by a marvellous slight of hand they'll steal away another. 1717tr. Frezier's Voy. 166 The Experiments that have been seen made..are fraudulent Sleights of Hand. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. ii. Vill. Ch., To make a murderer out of a prince, A sleight of hand I learned long since! 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 421 Fine sleights of hand And unimagined fingering.
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. In sense ‘using or employing sleight of hand’, as sleight-of-hand man, sleight of hand professor, etc.
1760Grose Voy. E. Indies 185 The jugglers, or slight-of-hand-men greatly excel whatever I have seen or heard of them in Europe. 1801Sporting Mag. XVII. 209 The exhibitions of a slight-of-hand professor. 1875Chambers's Jrnl. XII. 66 A sleight-of-hand gentleman is selling purses with half-crowns in them for one shilling each.
b. In sense ‘performed by sleight of hand, artifice, etc.’, as sleight-of-hand arrangement, sleight of hand juggling, sleight of hand trick, etc.
1818Scott Rob Roy xix, One of those slight-of-hand arrangements which still sometimes took place in that once lawless district. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. viii, You are a juggler; and the deceptions of your sleight-of-hand tricks depend upon instantaneous motions. 1828Moir Mansie Wauch vii, A punch and puppie-show business, and other slight-of-hand work. 1867Ruskin Time & Tide vi. §26 Then there was some fairly good sleight-of-hand juggling of little interest.
Hence ellipt. sleight-hand. Also attrib.
1792Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes Wks. 1816 II. 390 Sweet are of slight-hand Barrington the tales. 1839Rayson Poems 62 'Tis whuspert by sleet-han' he's meade lots o' money. |