cantrip
Americannoun
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Chiefly Scot. a magic spell; trick by sorcery.
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Chiefly British. artful shamming meant to deceive.
noun
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a magic spell
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(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
I don't know how it was done—by some 'devilish cantrip slight.'
From Uncle Silas A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
As Waverley passed him, he pulled off his hat respectfully, and approaching his stirrup, bade him 'Tak heed the auld Whig deevil played him nae cantrip.'
From Waverley: or, 'Tis sixty years since by Scott, Walter, Sir
For by what cantrip it wad ill-beseem a man to judge, she was hingin’ frae a single nail an’ by a single wursted thread for darnin’ hose.
From Merry Men by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Coffins stood round, like open presses, That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses; And by some devilish cantrip slight, Each in its cauld hand held a light.—
From Tam O'Shanter by Miller, Harry L.
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.
