sleight
/slʌɪt
/noun [mass noun] literary
The use of dexterity or cunning, especially so as to deceive: except by sleight of logic, the two positions cannot be harmonized...
- What we're faced with are psychic sharps, like card sharps: sleight of hand, sleight of mind.
- It is also deftly staged using an impressive sleight of hand and sleight of eye.
- Their skill and sleight of foot are bound to yield many goals this season.
Phrases
sleight of hand
Origin
Middle English sleghth 'cunning, skill', from Old Norse slœgth, from slœgr 'sly'.
sly from Middle English:
Early use of sly, which comes from Old Norse slœgr ‘cunning’, included the sense ‘dexterous, skilful’. The phrase on the sly is recorded in use from the early 19th century. Sleight (Middle English) is from the same source, and passed from the sense ‘cunning’ to ‘sleight of hand’ in the late 16th century.
Rhymes
- inland navigation
- inland revenue
- inland sea
- in large measure (or part)
- in-law
- in lay
- inlay
- inlayer
- in layman's terms
- in league
- in (less than) no time
- inlet
- inlier
- in-line
- in-line engine
- in line for
- in-liner
- in-line skater
- in-line skates
- in-line skating
- in little
- in loco parentis
- inly
- inlying
- Inman, Henry