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.
| [c 1400 Destr. Troy. 10306 Achilles..flange at the knight, [and] Slough hym full slawthly with sleght of his hond. c 1425 Non-Cycle Myst. Plays 24 Of hand to have such slight, To make ship less or mare.] c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxiii. 157 Let now se who dos the best with any slegthe of hande. 1700 T. 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. 1760 Johnson Idler No. 90 ¶3 By slight of hand, or nimbleness of foot, all these wonders can be performed. 1825 M{supc}Culloch 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. 1862 Fraser's Mag. July 75 A power not fitful or got forth by any sleight-of-hand, but resolutely worked for. |
| transf. and fig. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. 50 Here Fools by Slight of Hand, are converted into Wits. 1829 Carlyle 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.
| 1622 Fletcher Beggar's Bush iii. i, Will ye see any feats of activity, Some Sleight of hand, Legerdemain? 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2539/4 William Bradshaw..pretending to slight of Hand and swallowing Knives. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 395/2 Some of them were forced to get their bread by showing tricks of sleight of hand. 1853 C. 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.
| c 1605 ? Rowley Birth Merlin iv. i, I must keep some other company if you have these sleights of hand. 1699 R. 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. 1717 tr. Frezier's Voy. 166 The Experiments that have been seen made..are fraudulent Sleights of Hand. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. ii. Vill. Ch., To make a murderer out of a prince, A sleight of hand I learned long since! 1856 Mrs. 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.
| 1760 Grose Voy. E. Indies 185 The jugglers, or slight-of-hand-men greatly excel whatever I have seen or heard of them in Europe. 1801 Sporting Mag. XVII. 209 The exhibitions of a slight-of-hand professor. 1875 Chambers'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.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xix, One of those slight-of-hand arrangements which still sometimes took place in that once lawless district. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. viii, You are a juggler; and the deceptions of your sleight-of-hand tricks depend upon instantaneous motions. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch vii, A punch and puppie-show business, and other slight-of-hand work. 1867 Ruskin Time & Tide vi. §26 Then there was some fairly good sleight-of-hand juggling of little interest. |
Hence
ellipt. sleight-hand. Also
attrib.| 1792 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes Wks. 1816 II. 390 Sweet are of slight-hand Barrington the tales. 1839 Rayson Poems 62 'Tis whuspert by sleet-han' he's meade lots o' money. |