Sleight of Hand Terminology



Here's a list of popular Prestidigitation terms and definitions.

Let's start here: Prestidigitation is the performance of magic tricks, especially those involving quick manual dexterity and sleight of hand. I'm also partial to the french term Legerdemain: Skillful use of one's hands in performing conjuring tricks.

 Study up, there will be a quiz! 

  • Add-On: A technique where extra cards are secretly added to a controlled packet.
  • Alignment Move: A subtlety used to align multiple cards as a single card.
  • Ambitious Card: Selected card repeatedly appears on top of the deck after being placed in the middle.
  • Back Palm: A technique used to conceal small objects behind the hand by holding with the fingers.
  • Biddle Grip: For playing cards, palm down hand holds at short ends, thumb at back, fingertips at front.
  • Bluff Pass: A pass where the deck appears not to be cut but the selected card is controlled to the top or another desired position.
  • Bottom Deal: Dealing the bottom card of the deck as though it were the top one.
  • Butterfly Cut: A flashy cut where the deck is split into multiple packets that are twirled in the fingers.
  • Cascade: A visually striking way to shuffle cards where they cascade from one hand to the other.
  • Change: To switch one item for another, this could be covert or open.
  • Charlier Cut: One hand cut of the cards.
  • Classic Pass: A card sleight used to cut the deck secretly.
  • Clip Palm: A palming method where a card or small object is held using the clip between the thumb and palm.
  • Coin Vanish: Any method used to make a coin disappear.
  • Color Change: A visual effect where any visible object appears to change color or transform into another.
  • Control: A technique to bring a chosen card to the top or any predetermined position.
  • Crimp: A slight bend put into a card to mark it or locate it easily within a deck.
  • Cull: To secretly coalesce a desired quantity of cards, usually while spreading the pack from hand to hand.
  • Diagonal Palm Shift: A method for secretly palming a card while squaring the deck.
  • Double Lift: A sleight where two cards are lifted as one.
  • Dribble: Dropping cards from one hand to another, allowing for controls or forces.
  • Drop Switch: A technique for secretly exchanging one item for another under the cover of a drop.
  • Elmsley Count: A false counting technique that hides one or more cards in a 'four' card packet.
  • Erdnase Change: A complex color change using sleight of hand, named after the mysterious S.W. Erdnase.
  • Fan: Spreading the cards out in an arc, which can be used for display or to facilitate certain sleights.
  • False Cut: A way of cutting the deck that maintains the original order of the cards.
  • False Shuffle: Any shuffle that appears real but leaves the deck in a specific order.
  • Finger Palm: A palming method where the object is held with the fingers rather than the palm.
  • Flourish: A visually impressive manipulation or display of playing cards or other objects.
  • Force: A method to make a spectator select a pre-determined card or object seemingly at random.
  • French Drop: A sleight used to vanish a small object.
  • Gambler's Cop: A palming technique used to secretly hold a card or small object in the hand.
  • Glimpse: A technique to secretly view a card or information.
  • Hindu Shuffle: A type of shuffle that also serves as a way to control or force cards.
  • Jog: A protrusion of a card or cards in a deck, used as a locator or control point.
  • Lapping: Secretly disposing or retrieving an object in the performer's lap.
  • Load: To secretly add an object to a location, often used in cup and balls routines.
  • Matrix: A coin assembly trick where coins are covered with cards and then mysteriously gather under one card.
  • Misdirection: The magician's technique of focusing an audience's attention away from the method or sleight.
  • Monte: Any gambling-style card game used in magic tricks, such as the "Three Card Monte."
  • Okito Box: A round coin box used to perform penetrations, vanishes, and transpositions.
  • Out-jog: A small, outward displacement of a card from a deck.
  • Packet Trick: A trick that uses only a small number of cards from a deck.
  • Palm: A method of holding an object in the hand in a concealed manner.
  • Peek: A secret look at a card while it appears to be in a normal position.
  • Penetration: Any trick in which one solid object appears to pass through another.
  • Pinky Break: Holding a small break below cards in the deck with the tip pinky.
  • Pinky Count: Releasing cards off the tip of the pinky into a pinky break.
  • Pivot: A technique where a card is rotated out from the deck, typically for identification or control.
  • Prestige: The climactic part of a magic trick or routine.
  • Retention Vanish: A coin vanish where the coin is seemingly still visible as placed in the hand.
  • Revelation: The act of revealing a chosen or thought-of card in a dramatic way.
  • Riffle Shuffle: A common method of mixing cards on the table, with cards riffling off the thumbs.
  • Second Deal: Dealing the second card from the top of the deck as if it were the top card.
  • Shuttle Pass: A sleight used to switch an object held in one hand with another, under the guise of passing it to the other hand. Also often called a "Utility Pass".
  • Side Steal: A sleight where a card is secretly moved from the middle to the top or bottom of the deck.
  • Silk: A common magician's prop used in various tricks for vanishes, productions, and color changes.
  • Slip Cut: A method of false cutting the deck that only moves one card.
  • Snap Change: A quick change of a card from one to another while being held at the fingertips.
  • Sponge Balls: Soft balls used in magic tricks involving vanishes, appearances, and transpositions.
  • Spread: A display of cards laid out so that multiple cards can be seen at once.
  • Stack: A pre-arranged order of cards designed to facilitate certain tricks or outcomes.
  • Steal: The act of covertly removing an object from its place, typically used in card and coin magic.
  • Steeplechase: Rolling a coin across the knuckle of your fingers.
  • Table Pass: A technique for secretly shifting cards while the deck is on the table.
  • Tenkai Palm: A method of palming a card while the fingers remain apart.
  • Thumb Fan: A type of fan made with cards where the thumb is used to spread the cards out in a circular form.
  • Tilt: Playing card illusion that a card is being placed in the middle, but it goes beneath top card(s).
  • Top Change: A sleight that exchanges the top card of the deck with a card in the magician's hand.
  • Top Palm: Removing the top card of the deck secretly in the palm.
  • Transformation: A trick in which one object turns into another, often seen in card magic.
  • Undercut: A cut where a portion of the deck from the bottom is taken and placed on top.
  • Up the Ladder Cut: A method of cutting where cards are taken sequentially from the bottom and placed on top.
  • Vanish: Any method by which an object is made to disappear.
  • Wand: A traditional magician's prop used to perform various magical effects or as a misdirection tool.
  • Zarrow Shuffle: A false shuffle that retains the entire order of the deck but appears as though the cards have been thoroughly mixed.

Is there a term you were looking for that's not on this list? Please let me know! 

First Name
Email Address
Message
0 of 350
Visit our Forums to discuss Sleight of Hand with Kindred Spirits!
>