sleight

«sleight» in Mova's school dictionary: Clever, quick skill with the hands, used to trick people… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (sleight — mostly in the phrase "sleight of hand")

meaning for a pupil

1) Clever, quick skill with the hands, used to trick people, as in magic tricks: "sleight of hand". tree →

2) A clever trick or skill that fools people. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life, magicians use sleight of hand to make a coin seem to vanish. In lessons on truth and tricks, pupils learn that sleight of hand fools our eyes, and that tricksters use it in games like "find the lady" to cheat people. Phrases: sleight of hand.

examples

• The magician made the card disappear by sleight of hand. tree →
• Sleight of hand takes years of practice. tree →
• It was not real magic, just sleight of hand. tree →
• Tricksters use sleight of hand to cheat people at street games. tree →
• He learned some sleight of hand from a book. tree →
• Watch his hands closely to spot the sleight. tree →

note

Said like "slight". Homophone trap: "sleight" (trick with skill) and "slight" (small) sound the same. The word is almost only used in "sleight of hand". Remember: magic tricks are fun, but street games with cups or cards that ask for money are usually cheats.

In the corpora

• Sleight of hand is quick, practised hand movement you don't notice; misdirection steers your attention away from the secret move.
• Sleight of hand means quick, practised hand movements you do not notice.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sleight» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.