prestidigitator
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If you hire a professional prestidigitator for your little brother's birthday party, you'll get a performer who uses tricks and sleight-of-hand to entertain the crowd. The noun prestidigitator is just a fancy way of saying "magician." You might see a prestidigitator at a party or on a street corner, pulling quarters out of people's ears and turning rabbits into bouquets of flowers. The noun prestidigitation is another name for the quick hand movements and secret techniques of an illusionist. Both words come from the Latin word for "juggler," præstigiator.
Vocabulary lists containing prestidigitator
The Jungle
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Words with 15 or More Letters, List 5
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Magical Vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jane, daughter of Prestidigitator Howard Thurston; to one Harry Harris; six weeks ago under assumed names, again in a civil ceremony at Newport, Ky., again last week by a Catholic Priest in Cincinnati.
From Time Magazine Archive
Among the chicks and chuckles, Reggie Van Gleason presents a magic show, and rings in Prestidigitator Milbourne Christopher to give a helping sleight of hand.
From Time Magazine Archive
Johnson has been cast�perhaps has cast himself�in the role of the Great Prestidigitator, the Miracle Worker.
From Time Magazine Archive
Beatrice Rahner Houdini, 67, widow of Prestidigitator Harry Houdini, famed escape artist, exposer of phony mediums; of a heart ailment; in Needles, Calif., aboard an eastbound train from Los Angeles.
From Time Magazine Archive
The World’s Greatest Prestidigitator had dropped the egg which he intended taking from the ear of Governor Sudds where it had broken into the ample lap of Mrs. Vernon Wentz of the White Hand Laundry.
From The Fighting Shepherdess by Lockhart, Caroline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
