sleight

Cunning; craft; artful practice.

Noun

  1. Cunning; craft; artful practice.
  2. An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation.
    • If men have so many sleights to compass their matters, how can the compasser himself hold his fingers? - 1866, Henry Smith, Thomas Fuller, The Sermons of Mr. Henry Smith, page 37:
  3. Dexterous practice; dexterity; skill.

Origin

From Middle English sleighte, sleyght, sleythe, from Old Norse slœgð (“cunning”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiþō, from *slōgiz (“cunning”) (whence English sly). Doublet of sly and slöjd/sloyd.

Forms

sleights

Related

sleight of hand sleightly sleighty

Derived

sleightful