cantrip
Americannoun
-
Chiefly Scot. a magic spell; trick by sorcery.
-
Chiefly British. artful shamming meant to deceive.
noun
-
a magic spell
-
(often plural) a mischievous trick
adjective
Etymology
Origin of cantrip
1710–20; apparently dissimilated variant of Old English calcatrippe; see caltrop
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.
To fellow brokers downstairs on the floor of the Stock Exchange he had merely whispered the compelling cantrip of the bulls: "I've got a good thing!"
From Time Magazine Archive
By some "cantrip slight," it had no doubt brought her there to be ready in case of accidents, and it now left her to be caught in its stead.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 11 by Wilson, John Mackay
It would have been the daft but likeable cantrip I should have forgiven in any boy of mine; it would have shown some sign of a sogerly emprise.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil
Thence mystic knots mak great abuse On young guidmen, fond, keen an' crouse, When the best wark-lume i' the house, By cantrip wit, Is instant made no worth a louse, Just at the bit.
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert
And that old witch, Eliza— I little guessed she’d play this cantrip on me: But what a jest—Jerusalem, what a jest!
From Krindlesyke by Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson
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.
