Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Legerdemain
Legˊer-de-main′
(lĕjˊẽr-dē̍-mān′)
, Noun.
Sleight of hand; a trick of sleight of hand; hence, any artful deception or trick.
He of
legierdemayne
the mysteries did know. Spenser.
The tricks and
legerdemain
by which men impose upon their own souls. South.
Webster 1828 Edition
Legerdemain
LEG'ERDEMAIN
,Noun.
Slight of hand; a deceptive performance which depends on dexterity of hand; a trick performed with such art and adroitness, that the manner or art eludes observation. The word is sometimes used adjectively; as a legerdemain trick.
Definition 2024
legerdemain
legerdemain
See also: léger de main
English
Noun
legerdemain (usually uncountable, plural legerdemains)
- Sleight of hand; "magic" trickery.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.9:
- For he in slights and jugling feates did flow, / And of legierdemayne the mysteries did know.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.9:
- A show of skill or deceitful ability.
- 1673, Gilbert Burnet, The mystery of iniquity unvailed, London, p. 128:
- Certainly, that they are to this day so rife in Italy and Spain, and so scant in Britain, is a shrewd ground to apprehend Legerdemain, and forgery, in the accounts we get of their later Saints.
- 1673, Gilbert Burnet, The mystery of iniquity unvailed, London, p. 128:
Synonyms
Translations
sleight of hand
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