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
It is a strange cantrip, Mary," said the General; "I suppose you'll be going to give him something.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil
With anxious countenance and attentive ears, they listened to the cantrip effusions of these pretended oracles, which prognosticated the bright or gloomy days of futurity.
From Thaumaturgia by Oxonian, An
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 The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Methought I had recover'd of the Becket, That all was planed and bevell'd smooth again, Save from some hateful cantrip of thine own.
From Becket and other plays by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
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.
