List of conjuring terms

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The following is a list of terms used by magicians, sorted alphabetically.

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.
Bicycle Deck
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 dialogue 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.
Raven
a pull consisting of a padded magnet on elastic.
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 led 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. A secret rod is used to levitate the ball.

[edit] References

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