The following is a list of terms used by magicians, sorted alphabetically. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Angles

the lines of vision of people sitting at certain position in the audience which enable a secret to be spotted; usually extreme left or right or behind. If a trick is "angly" it can only be done with limited audience viewpoints.

Back palm

to palm in the back of the hand.

Bikes

Bicycle Playing Cards.

Black art

an optical principle and the tricks accomplished by it.

Blind Shuffle/Blind Cut

A shuffle or cut where the cards appear well mixed but all of the cards are left completely undisturbed after the shuffle or cut.

Burn

a subject staring at the magician's hands without averting the gaze, no matter what misdirection is thrown at a subject.

Copper and Silver (C/S)

Effect using two coins of contrasting metals which change place.

Centre tear

a special way of tearing up paper billets used in mentalism.

Chop Cup

Single cup under which a ball repeatedly appears. A magnet is used in the cup and a steel insert in the ball, which appears when the cup is set down with a slight bump. The Chop Cup effect has been done with paper cups, coffee cups, bowls, and copper or brass cups.

Cold

A deck secretly switched in during play. "Cold" because it hasn't been warmed up by handling.

Confederate

an audience member planted to act in a cooperative manner.

Change

changing one card (or object) for another.

Charlier Cut

One handed flourish cut or pass.

Classic force

a force performed by fanning the cards and timing the force card to land under their fingers.

Classic palm

to palm with the centre of the hand.

Clean

a hand which is empty or the condition achieved at the end of an effect where the magician has no supposedly vanished objects or gimmicked items in her hands. See Dirty.

Crimp

a gambler's move which can be used in magic, there are many different types; used for card location.

Cut and Restored

see Torn and Restored.

Deal

to take cards off the top of the deck. Dealing "seconds", "middles", or "bottoms", refers to a sleight in which the second, middle, or bottom card is secretly dealt in lieu of the top card.

Dirty

a hand which contains an object the audience should not know about, or the condition at some point where the magician has "vanished" objects or gimmicked items hidden in her hands. See Clean.

Ditch

to secretly get rid of an object or gimmick.

Dovetail shuffle

see Riffle shuffle.

Equivoque

a method of forcing a specific object on a spectator through a seemingly randomized selection process. See Force.

Effect

how a magic trick is perceived by a spectator.

Egg bag

a utility bag often made of black velvet which can be turned inside out to vanish an object (egg) or change one object for another.

Elmsley count

a false count (often done with four cards) where the surface of a card is hidden while the cards are passed from one hand to another. Named for Alex Elmsley, its inventor.

Fairy dust

see Magic dust.

False transfer

a technique in which an object appears to be taken into one hand while actually being retained in the other.

False shuffle/False cut

a shuffle or cut in which the deck is apparently mixed but, in reality, the portions of the original order is retained such as a top or bottom stock kept in order: also see Blind Shuffle.

Faro

a shuffle similar to the riffle where the cards mesh perfectly. An in or out faro is performed depending on the position of the top card.

Finger palm

to palm in the fingers.

Flash

to accidentally expose an object or part of an object momentarily during a secret move.

Flourish

a showy move which displays handling skills.

French drop

A false transfer with a coin or small object.

Force

where a card or other object is made to be selected by the spectator, despite the appearance of a free choice.

Gaff

A gimmick designed to look like something real while accomplishing some secret task.

Ghost count

A false count of cards.

Glimpse

a secret view of a card or object.

Gimmick

a secret part or object used to make the trick work.

Invisible Deck

Classic effect by magician Don Alan in which a card merely named by the spectator is the only one face down in the face-up deck. Many magicians use the Invisible Deck as a backup plan if something goes wrong in the middle of a routine. Similar to a Brainwave Deck, in which a thought-of card is revealed face-up in a face-down deck--and has a different colored back.

Impromptu

a trick that can be performed at a moment's notice, usually with everyday objects and little or no preparation.

Key card

a known card used to locate another. See locator.

Lapping

dropping an object into one's lap to vanish it; performed while seated.

Load

Verb--to secretly put an object into a location. Noun--An object in a secret location ready to be produced.

Loaded

a die which comes up the same number, or an object which secretly contains another object ready for production.

Locator

similar to a key card; a card which can be found in some way. It may be long, short, thick, rough, smooth, crimped, daubed, marked, reversed, or simply known.

M5

Neodymium magnet, used for PK effects, balances, stopping watches, and vanishes.

Magic dust

invisible substance stored in magician's pocket that supposedly makes tricks work. Excuse for going to a pocket to get rid of a vanished item. Also called "Woofle Dust." See Misdirection.

Magician's choice

see Force.

Magician's rope

soft, usually white rope used for rope tricks.

Magician's wax

wax used to temporarily attach objects. The earliest known magician's wax is beeswax. Magician's wax can be made easily by melting beeswax with parts of vaseline to alter its consistency. Natural beeswax has the tendency to stain cards; dental wax is also used by some as a substitute.

Manipulator

a magician with a showy sleight of hand act, often set to music.

Mark

a subject for a con game.

Mechanic

an operator who is very skilled at sleight of hand, usually with cards.

Mechanic's grip

a way of holding the pack in the left hand ready for dealing. The forefinger is on the front of the deck to help square the pack and control the cards. A lay person will hold the deck with the fingers all underneath or down the side.

Misdirection

psychological techniques for controlling attention.

Monte

a famous con game where three cards are thrown down and the mark has to follow a chosen card; due to a sleight of hand, the mark never wins.

One Ahead

principle often used in mentalism where the magician uses previously obtained information to stay one step ahead of the audience and supposedly make accurate predictions/guesses.

Out

an alternative ending to an effect.

Overhand shuffle

a shuffle where the cards are dropped from one hand into the other in small random groups.

Packet trick

a card magic effect involving a small quantity of cards.

Palm

to secretly hold an object in the hand in a manner which is unnoticeable.

Pass

a secret move to transpose the halves of a pack; a way to secretly cut a deck of cards.

Patter

the script used in the performance of an effect. Patter styles may differ from magicians to magicians: some prefer a serious patter, while others opt for a light hearted humorous patter to relax the audience and try to catch them off guard.

Peek

see Glimpse.

Profonde/Pochettes

large pockets in tail coats which can be used for vanishes or productions, although not popular method today due to fashion trends.

Pinch

holding something between the fingers.

Plant

see Confederate.

Psychokinesis

moving things using supposed supernatural powers.

Pull

a device of elastic which pulls object up sleeve or under jacket as in the vanishing cigarette.

Pull through shuffle

the concluding move to a riffle where the two halves are pulled through each other and not mixed.

Retention of vision

the after-image on the retina; applied to certain visually convincing vanishes.

Riffle

to let cards come out of the hand, creating a noise.

Riffle shuffle

the most common shuffling technique in which half of the deck is held in each hand with the thumbs inward, then cards are released by the thumbs so that they fall to the table intertwined.

Rough

cards which have been treated with substance to increase surface friction, making it easier to keep cards aligned to each other.

Routine

a sequence of effects.

Run

taking the cards off singly during an overhand shuffle which can be used to stack the deck.

Servante

a secret shelf or compartment behind the magician's table.

Silk

a silk handkerchief.

Shell

a hollowed out coin or ball which fits over the real object allowing vanish and reproductions.

Shell game

A confidence trick involving three half walnut shells and a pea. The mark bets on which shell contains the pea, but he loses every time because the operator is cheating with sleight of hand.

Shill

see Confederate.

Shuffle

to randomize a deck of playing cards.

Table shuffle

a variation of the riffle shuffle, often used by dealers in casinos, in which the deck's halves are placed flat on the table with their rear corners touching. The back edges are then lifted with the thumbs while the halves are pushed together.

Thumb palm

to palm in the crotch of the thumb.

Sleeving

dropping an object up a sleeve to vanish it.

Sleight

a secret move or technique.

Slicks

highly polished cards or coins which are more slippery; useful for flourishes. See Rough.

Slide

a tube used to get an object to an otherwise impossible to reach location.

Slip

to retain the top or bottom cards, or both, during an overhand shuffle.

Sphinx Principle

the concept that two mirrors at 90 degrees and with their apex facing the audience can be used to reflect the side curtains or walls, which are the same pattern as those at the back, enabling an object to be hidden behind the mirrors; first used in the Sphinx illusion.

Sponge

a sponge ball.

Spread

flourishing a deck of cards onto a tabletop.

Stack

a prearranged deck or part of the deck of cards, or to rearrange while overhand shuffling.

Steal

a sleight used to obtain an object secretly.

Stodare egg

a hollow egg used in vanish or production of a silk.

Stooge

see Confederate.

Sucker effect

a trick where the spectator is lead to believe he has worked it out, only to be proven wrong.

Switch

to exchange one object for another.

Talking

inadvertent noises made by the props which can give away the trick.

Torn and Restored

a trick in which the magician rips something up into many pieces and then "restores" it.

Tourniquet

see French drop.

Woofle dust

see Magic dust.

Zombie Ball

A ball that floats around, usually under the cover of a cloth.

Bicycle Playing Cards have been manufactured by the United States Playing Card Company since 1885. ... Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. ... Mentalism is an ancient performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, use mental acuity, principles of stage magic, hypnosis and/or suggestion to present the illusion of mind reading, psychokinesis, precognition, clairvoyance or mind control. ... The Charlier Cut is a method for cutting a deck of cards with only one hand. ... A Magicians Choice, also known as equivoque, is a technique used by magicians to control the selection made by a spectator. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The French drop is a well-known vanish involving sleight of hand. ... A Card force is one of any number of methods used in close-up magic to apparently offer a subject a free or random choice of card, when in fact the magician knows in advance exactly which card will be chosen. ... Two standard six-sided pipped dice with rounded corners. ... Neodymium magnet on a bracket from a hard drive A neodymium magnet or NIB magnet (also, but less specifically, called a rare-earth magnet) is a powerful magnet made of a combination of neodymium, iron, and boron — Nd2Fe14B. They have replaced marginally weaker and significantly more heat-resistant samarium-cobalt... Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Billet reading is a mentalism effect where a performer gives the impression that he is able to correctly identify, using supposed clairvoyant powers, messages that have been sealed inside envelopes. ... Lance Cpl. ... Palming is a technique for holding or concealing an object in the hand. ... The Pass is an example of sleight of hand, and is employed by a magician to gain control of a card which has been chosen by a specatator and, seemingly, placed randomly in the deck. ... Patter is a glib rapid speech, that accompanies and comments some actions, e. ... Retention of vision is just as it states. ... Human eye cross-sectional view. ... Raymond W. Kelly is seen here wearing a handkerchief in his left-breast pocket. ... The riffle Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sleight-of-hand, also known as legerdemain, is a technique of close-up magic in which small items are concealed in and around the performers hands, sometimes by the use of misdirection, to enhance the illusion being performed. ...

References

• Hay, Henry. Cyclopedia of Magic. 1949. ISBN 0-486-21808-2
• Hoffman, Louis. Modern Magic. 1876(Orig) ISBN 0-486-23623-4
• Wilson, Mark. Complete Course in Magic. 1975. ISBN 0-7624-1455-3