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sleight - 4 dictionary results

sleight

  [slahyt]
Use sleight in a Sentence
–noun
1. skill; dexterity.
2. an artifice; stratagem.
3. cunning; craft.
Origin:
1225–75; ME; early ME slēgth < ON slǣgth. See sly, -th 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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sleight 
"cunning," c.1275, from O.N. sloegð "cleverness, cunning, slyness," from sloegr (see sly). Term sleight of hand is attested from c.1400.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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