prestidigitation

plural prestidigitations

1. countableuncountableA performance of or skill in performing magic or conjuring tricks with the hands.

   My favorite prestidigitation was when he pulled the live dove out of that tiny scarf.

   1 more example

   He borrowed another hat and displayed its perfect emptiness; he held up his empty hands: "This is one of the most marvellous bits of prestidigitation known," he said. "You have all seen this hat holds nothing in the world: I will now see if I can extract anything from its emptiness. You can all observe my hands go nowhere but into the hat, and they are both open and turned to you. Yet what is this?"

   1897, Ethel Turner, The Child of the Children

   Synonyms: sleight of hand, legerdemain

2. broadlycountableuncountableA show of skill or deceitful cleverness.

   His writing was peppered with verbal tricks and prestidigitation.

   1 more example

   The more modest place became the picture better; yet, as my eyes grew accustomed to the half-light, all the characteristic qualities came out--all the hesitations disguised as audacities, the tricks of prestidigitation by which, with such consummate skill, he managed to divert attention from the real business of the picture to some pretty irrelevance of detail.

   1908, Edith Wharton, The Verdict

   Synonyms: sleight of hand, legerdemain, deception, imposition, hype, deceit, dupery, fiddle