English

Alternative forms

• presto chango

Interjection

presto change-o

1. (informal) Indicates the suddenness of a change or transformation, as a magic trick in which one object appears to be suddenly transformed into another.
   • 1975, Laura Keane Zametkin Hobson, Consenting Adult, Doubleday, ISBN 0385034989, page 85,

     "It doesn't just go one, two, three, presto, change-o, you're cured."

   • 1984, Audrey Wood, Presto Change-O, Child's Play, ISBN 0859531813.
   • 2001, Karen Kellaher, Writing Skills Made Fun: Parts of Speech, ISBN 0439170338, page 13,

     Then tell them to read the sentence on the front of each flap, open the flap, and read the sentence inside. Presto Change-o! Common nouns are transformed into proper nouns, right before nouns, right before their eyes!

   • 2006, Peter Blauner, Slipping Into Darkness: A Novel, Little, Brown, ISBN 0316098663, page 3,

     But then that little psychopath Willie Bosket murdered a couple of subway riders for the **** of it when he was fifteen and -- presto change-o! -- a new law was born.