sleight
[noun]
Synonyms: address, adroitness, deftness, dexterity, dexterousness, prowess, readiness, skill, trick, artifice, device, gimmick, maneuver, play, ploy, ruse, stratagem, wile

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

sleight noun & adjective. [slʌɪt] ME.
[Old Norse slægð (Old Swedish slögdh, Swedish slöjd SLOYD), from slœgr SLY adjective: see -T².]
A. noun.
1. Cunning; deceitful dealing or policy; artifice, trickery. Now rare or obsolete. ME.

2. Skill, manual dexterity. (Foll. by in, at.) Now rare. ME.
b. Adroitness, smartness, nimbleness of mind, body, etc. In later use influenced by SLEIGHT OF HAND. LME.
■ A. S. Byatt By some sleight of perception he was looking out at once from the four field-corners. Times He is foolish to suppose that he can solve his difficulties by sleight of words.

3. The precise art or method, the knack of (doing) something. Now dial. ME.
b. spec. Skill in jugglery or conjuring; sleight of hand. M17.

4. A cunning trick; an artful device or design; an artifice, a ruse, a wile. Now rare. ME.
b. A feat of jugglery or legerdemain; a trick or action performed with great dexterity, esp. so as to deceive the eye. L16.
c. A design, a pattern. rare (Spenser). Only in L16.
B. adjective.
1. Artful, crafty, wily. ME-L16.

2. Skilful, clever; dexterous. E16-M17.

■ sleightly adverb (a) cunningly, craftily; (b) skilfully, dexterously: ME-E17.

■ sleighty adjective (now rare) (a) having or using sleight or craft; (b) characterized by sleight or dexterity; crafty, subtle: LME.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲