"Without this magic glossary you might as well try to learn magic tricks written in Chinese."Magic GlossaryBeginning magicians are often confused by the unusual terms when learning to do magic. I have always wondered why more magic books don't include a magic glossary. Several of the common magic terms are listed below to help you master the magic lingo. Most of the terms deal with sleight of hand and magic with cards. This is the most popular area in magic. As you are learning a new trick from a magic book or video and come across a new term, look to this magic glossary first. If you don't find the term you are looking for listed in the magic glossary, then drop me a note and I will try and add it. The following magic glossary of general magic and sleight of hand terms are used in the text throughout this site. I have tried to link the terms in the other parts of this site to this page. Let me know if I missed one. If you have a great magic term and definition that you think should be listed in the magic glossary then contact me and let me know. If we use your term we will give you full credit after the definition. Black Art: The use of a black cloth background to aid in concealing or highlighting objects. Blind (See False Shuffle): Any method of shuffling, riffling, cutting or culling, designed to appear regular, but in reality retaining, or arranging, some preconceived order. Break: A minute division held in the pack to mark the position of a number of cards or of a single card. In conjuring the break is usually employed when the pack is held in the left hand as for dealing. The flesh at the outermost phalange of the little finger is pressed against the division at the right side at the inner corner (the finger tip is not inserted between the packets) and the remaining fingers are held together at the same side, concealing the subterfuge. This break is often taken by the ball of the right thumb at the inner end of the pack, prior to an overhand shuffle, the fingers being at the outer end. The cards are shuffled into the left hand until those above the break have dropped; the remaining cards are then thrown upon those in the left hand. This is an easy method much used to bring a desired card to the top of the pack. Bridge: To press the sides or ends of half the pack together so that the packet is made convex, if it be the upper half, or concave if it be the lower half. This is done to mark the position of a card or a number of cards. If a bridged pack is cut, this cut almost invariably will be at the bridge. Charlier cut - A one handed method to cut cards. An easy to learn card flourish. Click Pass - A very useful coin sleight that uses sound as misdirection and illusion. Coin Vanish: A coin sleight that causes a coin to vanish from a location, usually the hand. See also Simple Vanish, Tunnel Vanish, and Drop Vanish. Color Change: Visibly changing one card into another card. The magician usually changes the color of the cards. Crimp: To bend a part of a card, usually a corner, upward or downward, so that its position in the pack may be determined by sight. It is used to locate a single card or a stock which may be above or below the crimped card. It is possible to cut to such a card without glancing at the pack. Cull: To secure certain cards at the top or bottom in the act of mixing the cards with the overhand shuffle. Double Lift: To lift two cards as one. One of the most useful of modern card sleights. Drop Vanish - A coin sleight used to vanish a coin. Invented by Milt Kort. Elmsley Count: A false counting method to openly count four cards as four, but conceal one of the four cards. This count is often used in packet tricks. False Count: Any method of openly counting cards while concealing one or more cards. The Elmsley Count is one well known example. False Deals: To appear to deal the top card when in fact the magician deals a card from another part of the deck. Common false deals include the second deal, the bottom deal, and the middle deal. False Shuffle: Any method of shuffling, riffling, cutting or culling, designed to appear regular, but in reality retaining, or arranging, some preconceived order. Jog: A card extending for a fraction of an inch from any part of the pack. It marks the position of a desired card or of a stock of cards. When it is at the inner end of the pack the right hand in taking the pack for an overhand shuffle applies pressure with the ball of the thumb, turning the jog into a break, after which the cards are shuffled to this break and thrown, bringing the desired card or cards to the top. A jog at the right side of the pack, when it is held by the left hand as for dealing, may be turned into a break by pulling down on the protruding edge with the tip of the left little finger, after which the pass may be made, or the card may be shuffled to the top. Injog: A card protruding beyond the inner end of the pack. During an overhand shuffle a card is injogged by moving the right hand, with its packet, inwards towards the body. The left thumb draws off the top card of the right packet, thus causing it to protrude beyond the inner end. The remainder of the cards are then shuffled off. Outjog: The same procedure, but the right hand moves outwards, causing the card to extend beyond the outer end. In the course of certain tricks, the outjog and injog may be employed during a single shuffle. Joints and Phalanges: The joint or phalange nearest the palm is the first, or the innermost; the second is at the middle; the third is the outermost, that at the nail.
Misdirection: The application of psychological principles or strategies in order to control the focus of the spectator. An example of misdirection is that a large movement will misdirect a spectator’s attention away from a smaller movement (the concealed sleight). Overhand Shuffle: The old-fashioned method of shuffling the cards from hand to hand. Riffle Shuffle: The method of shuffling on the table by springing the ends of two packets into each other. Run: During an overhand shuffle, to draw cards one at a time off the packet held by the right hand with the left thumb. Simple Vanish - A coin sleight used to vanish a coin. Simple yet effective. Stock: A number of cards, which may or may not be in an arranged sequence, which have been placed in some particular place in the pack, usually the top or bottom. Shuffle Off: A genuine overhand shuffle, in which the cards are dropped from the right hand indiscriminately, in small packets. Switch: Secretly exchange one card or coin for another. Throw: During an overhand shuffle, to drop from the right hand packet onto the cards held by the left hand a number of cards in one packet, these cards retaining their order. Cards are usually thrown from above a break. Tunnel Vanish - A coin sleight used to vanish a coin or similar object. A great vanish to use when the spectator is really close. Undercut: To draw out a packet of cards from the bottom of the pack prior to an overhand shuffle. Please remember that this magic glossary is an ongoing work in progress. We need you help in improving this magic glossary. If you are just starting out in magic, you should bookmark this magic glossary and come back here whenever you need help with a magic or sleight of hand term. This magic glossary was designed to make learning to great magic tricks as easy and enjoyable as possible. Magically yours,
Most of these card magic and sleight of hand terms in the magic glossary were taken from Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue and originated by S. W. Erdnase to describe the procedures given in The Expert at the Card Table and have become a part of the conjurer's magic glossary. Coin Sleights have been adapted from Modern Coin Magic. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service  |