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Webster 1913 Edition


Legerdemain

Legˊer-de-main′

(lĕjˊẽr-dē̍-mān′)
,
Noun.
[F.
léger
light, nimble +
de
of +
main
hand, L.
manus
. See 3d
Leger
, and
Manual
.]
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.
[See Light.]
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)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

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