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sleight - 4 dictionary results

sleight

[slahyt]
–noun
1. skill; dexterity.
2. an artifice; stratagem.
3. cunning; craft.

Origin:
1225–75; ME; early ME slēgth < ON slǣgth. See sly, -th 1
sleight   (slīt)   
n.  
  1. Deftness; dexterity.
  2. A clever or skillful trick or deception; an artifice or stratagem.

[Middle English, alteration of sleahthe, from Old Norse slɶgdh, from slɶgr, sly.]

Sleight

Sleight\, n. [OE. sleighte, sleihte, sleithe, Icel. sl?g? (for sl?g?) slyness, cunning, fr. sl?gr (for sl?gr) sly, cunning. See Sly.]

1. Cunning; craft; artful practice. [Obs.] "His sleight and his covin." --Chaucer.

2. An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation.

The world hath many subtle sleights. --Latimer.

3. Dexterous practice; dexterity; skill. --Chaucer. "The juggler's sleight." --Hudibras.

Sleight of hand, legerdemain; prestidigitation.

sleight 
"cunning," c.1275, from O.N. sloegð "cleverness, cunning, slyness," from sloegr (see sly). Term sleight of hand is attested from c.1400.
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