Spuunbenda is a bit closer to the mark. Sleight of hand can perhaps be best defined as “a manual execution with the intent of secretly achieving an end unbeknownst to any observers.”

Sleight of hand, then, is not merely confined to secretly holding an object. Sleight of hand is also used to

Also, sleight of hand need not use objects at all, as some strong magical effects can be achieved with the hands themselves, such as the elongation, shrinking, or separation of the fingers. One well-known magician made his early reputation by causing each of his fingers to disappear from his hand one at a time.


As grammatical information, “sleight of hand” is not normally hyphenated, except when used as an adjective, as in “He is a sleight-of-hand expert.”