prestidigitation love

prestidigitation

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands; sleight of hand.
  • noun Skill or cleverness, especially in deceiving others.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Legerdemain; sleight of hand; prestigiation; the performance of feats requiring dexterity and skill, particularly of the fingers; hence, juggling in general.

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

  • noun Legerdemain; sleight of hand; juggling.

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

  • noun A performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands; sleight of hand.
  • noun A show of skill or deceitful cleverness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun manual dexterity in the execution of tricks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French (influenced by prestigiateur, juggler, conjurer, from prestige, illusion), from prestidigitateur, conjurer : preste, nimble (from Italian presto; see presto) + Latin digitus, finger; see digit.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French prestidigitation

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Examples

  • Where's The Club? was a rambling, Randy Newman-style ballad; Twenty Twenty Vision veered left into bluegrass; and Spider Fingers included the first and presumably last use of the word "prestidigitation" in popular song.

    Evening Standard - Home Rick Pearson 2012

  • Where's The Club? was a rambling, Randy Newman-style ballad; Twenty Twenty Vision veered left into bluegrass; and Spider Fingers included the first and presumably last use of the word "prestidigitation" in popular song.

    Evening Standard - Home Rick Pearson 2012

  • The blow was struck: henceforth the interpreters and all those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided by an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery.

    The Lock and Key Library The most interesting stories of all nations: Real life Arthur Cheney Train 1910

  • The blow was struck: henceforth the interpreters and all those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided by an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery.

    Memoirs of Robert-Houdin Houdin, Robert 1858

  • For those of you who love to expand your vocabulary to include words like "prestidigitation," bookmark and use often!

    Optimism Is In The Air As New Ideas Percolate - Cory Treffiletti - MediaBizBlogger 2009

  • He steps forward and asks her to spell a list of much more difficult words, "prestidigitation" and "pulchritude" among them.

    Rachel Pine: Floats Like a Butterfly, Stings Like A Spelling Bee 2008

  • It's a gag pile-up, with a funny moment packed into practically every second of the short, whether it's a broadly played physical gag (Bugs pulling himself out of the magician's hat by his own ears, holding himself suspended in the air without explanation), or a nice turn of phrase (I love the fact that this film makes a gag out of the inability to say "prestidigitation").

    Short Film Week, Day 6: Six Chuck Jones Cartoons Ed Howard 2007

  • It's a gag pile-up, with a funny moment packed into practically every second of the short, whether it's a broadly played physical gag (Bugs pulling himself out of the magician's hat by his own ears, holding himself suspended in the air without explanation), or a nice turn of phrase (I love the fact that this film makes a gag out of the inability to say "prestidigitation").

    Archive 2007-12-01 Ed Howard 2007

  • That last bit -- essentially blaming study design for placebo response rates -- is the kind of prestidigitation that passes for science in psychiatry these days.

    Furious Seasons 2009

  • The piano is usually thought of as the more orchestral keyboard instrument, but Hantaï's prestidigitation just about put the harpsichord on equal footing.

    Authentication keys Matthew Guerrieri 2009

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