31 July 2017
prestidigitation
[pres-ti-dij-i-tey-shuh n]
noun
1. sleight of hand; legerdemain.
Origin of prestidigitation
Latin
1855-1860; French: literally, ready-fingeredness, coinage perhaps based on prestigiateur juggler, conjurer, derivative of Latin praestīgiae juggler’s tricks (see prestige ). See prest1, digit, -ation
Related forms
prestidigitator, noun
prestidigitatory [pres-ti-dij-i-tuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] (Show IPA), prestidigitatorial, adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for prestidigitation
Contemporary Examples
It was, all in all, a wondrous feat of prestidigitation, worthy of a Las Vegas magician.
Michelle Obama’s Media Blitz Through ‘The Daily Show,’ ‘The View’ & More
Lloyd Grove
May 29, 2012
Historical Examples
And he’s more light-fingered than his predecessor, he’s a master of prestidigitation !
Under the Rose
Frederic Stewart Isham
All these extraordinary manœuvres cannot be attributed to prestidigitation.
Mysterious Psychic Forces
Camille Flammarion
I hope to convince the reader that these things really exist, and are neither illusions nor farces, nor feats of prestidigitation.
Mysterious Psychic Forces
Camille Flammarion
The Theosophical craze of recent years has had its influence on prestidigitation.
Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions Including Trick Photography
Albert A. Hopkins
A perfect technic is more than a wonderful power of prestidigitation, or facility in the manipulation of an instrument.
Memories of a Musical Life
William Mason
In St. Petersburg great and incredible examples of mystification and of prestidigitation were told about him.
The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin
Harry Houdini
He had emptied the pockets of his companions by a kind of prestidigitation quite incomprehensible to them.
The Graysons
Edward Eggleston
The other line of argument raises more subtle intellectual issues and is not a mere matter of prestidigitation.
A Revision of the Treaty
John Maynard Keynes
It was prestidigitation for all concerned—only the side of the children of Israel was espoused in the recital.
Visionaries
James Huneker
Anagram
a dispiriting tote
a trip it digestion
Today’s quote
Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are injured.
– Thucydides
On this day
31 July 1703 – Daniel Defoe, author of ‘Robinson Crusoe‘, is put in the pillory for committing ‘seditious libel’ after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet entitled ‘The shortest-way with dissenters; Or, proposals for the establishment of the church‘, which was critical of the establishment of the church and the practice of ‘occasional conformity’, in which dissenters could attend church once a year and still qualify as members of the Church of England. Whilst in the pillory, Defoe was pelted with flowers rather than the usual fruit and vegetables.
31 July 1965 – birthday of Joanne (J.K.) Rowling, author of the ‘Harry Potter‘ series. In 2006 a minor planet was named after her: ‘43844 Rowling’.
31 July 2012 – death of Gore Vidal, American author, playwright, essayist and political activist. Born 3 October 1925.