Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who practised legerdemain or sleight of hand; a prestigiator; a magician; a juggler who produced optical illusions by mechanical contrivances; hence, an impostor; a cheat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A juggler who produces illusions by the use of elaborate machinery.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A magician or juggler; a trickster.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tregetor, from tregeter ‘throw around’, ultimately from Latin trans- + jactare ‘throw’.

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Examples

  • Anyway, I hope you win the Gold Coin, you old literary tregetour, you!

    Prometheus Award Finalists: TGB is In « Whatever 2007

  • The captives answered not his address, but nestled close to each other, interchanging, at intervals, words of comfort, and recoiling as far as possible from the ex-tregetour, who, having taken with him a more congenial companion in the shape of a great leathern bottle, finally sunk into the silent and complacent doze which usually rewards the libations to the Bromian god.

    The Last of the Barons — Volume 12 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • "And why, belle-mere mine, wouldst thou protect this pleasant tregetour?"

    The Last of the Barons — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • In his youth he had been an itinerant mountebank, or, as it was called, tregetour.

    The Last of the Barons — Volume 06 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • The captives answered not his address, but nestled close to each other, interchanging, at intervals, words of comfort, and recoiling as far as possible from the ex-tregetour, who, having taken with him a more congenial companion in the shape of a great leathern bottle, finally sunk into the silent and complacent doze which usually rewards the libations to the Bromian god.

    The Last of the Barons — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • "And why, belle-mere mine, wouldst thou protect this pleasant tregetour?"

    The Last of the Barons — Volume 03 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • In his youth he had been an itinerant mountebank, or, as it was called, tregetour.

    The Last of the Barons — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • The ex-tregetour was standing before the captured Eureka, and gazing on it with an air of serio-comic despair and rage.

    The Last of the Barons — Volume 10 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • The ex-tregetour was standing before the captured Eureka, and gazing on it with an air of serio-comic despair and rage.

    The Last of the Barons — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • "Marry," quoth the friar, "an 'I had not seen thee on thy mother's knee when she followed my stage of tregetour, I should have guessed thee for thirty; but thou hast led too jolly a life to look still in the blossom.

    The Last of the Barons — Volume 10 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Comments

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  • A juggler, trickster or deceiver. Originally used to describe a type of jester or juggler, tregetour, though now archaic, eventually came to mean someone who uses cunning tricks to deceive others (sometimes but not limited to stage performances). A useful poetic word for a magician, but also a more pleasant-sounding name for a huckster or con man. (From The Phrontistery)

    June 11, 2008

  • In the first defininition of this word "prestigiator" should be "prestidigitator". (From Italian "presti" meaning "nimble" and Latin "digitus" meaning "finger".

    July 31, 2012