[‘ A person who practises sleight of hand or legerdemain; a conjuror; a juggler. Also in extended use.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌprɛstᵻˈdɪdʒᵻteɪtə/, U.S. /ˌprɛstəˈdɪdʒəˌteɪdər/
Forms: 17– *prestidigitator*, 18– *prestidigitateur* Brit. /ˌprɛstᵻˌdɪ(d)ʒᵻtəˈtəː/, U.S. /ˌprɛstəˌdɪdʒədəˈtər/.
Etymology: < French /preste/ nimble (second half of the 15th cent. in Middle French) or its etymon Italian /presto/ presto adj. + classical Latin /digitus/ finger (see digit n.) + -ator suffix, perhaps after prestigiator n. Compare French /prestidigitateur/ (1823), Italian /prestidigitatore/ (1835; < French).
In form prestidigitateur after the French word.
A person who practises sleight of hand or legerdemain; a conjuror; a juggler. Also in extended use.
1712 Ld. Shaftesbury /Second Characters/ (1914) IV. 113 The passion of those who run after monsters in fairies and the Θαυματοποιοί Prestidigitators.
/a/1843 in R. Southey /Common-place Bk./ (1851) 4th Ser. 603/1 De M. G. Ferizer, the celebrated enchanter..prestidigitateur, and author of several experiments adapted to public amusement.
1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin /Mem./ viii. 166–7 The learning of the conjuror—I beg pardon, prestidigitator… This word, as well as Prestidigitation, due to the same author, were soon seized upon by Jules de Rovère’s rivals.
1870 M. D. Conway /Earthward Pilgrimage/ xvi. 201 Whether our young men should turn themselves into intellectual prestidigitateurs.
1879 S. Baring-Gould /Germany/ I. 392 A prestidigitator can work magic with his nimble fingers.
1905 /Contemp. Rev./ June 877 The repeated successes of the prestidigitator who is at the head of its Government.
1926 /Lancaster (Ohio) Daily Eagle/ 17 May 4/6 From under his coat, in the manner of a prestidigitator, he produced a pair of pink slippers with pretty silver buckles.
1995 /N.Y. Rev. Bks./ 5 Oct. 4/1 He..spots with fine accuracy those moments when Nabokov is being..blinded for his own, admittedly consummate skill as a verbal prestidigitator.
2005 /Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl./ (Nexis) 16 Sept. g2 A counterfeit Chinese prestidigitator whose specialty was catching bullets in his teeth.