jugglery

English[edit]

From Old French juglerie, jouglerie, from jouglere (“juggler”).

jugglery (countable and uncountable, plural juggleries)

(now rare) Witchcraft, sorcery; magical trickery, legerdemain.
- 1819, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 31, in The Bride of Lammermoor:
  Omens were expounded, dreams were interpreted, and other tricks of jugglery perhaps resorted to, by which the pretended adepts of the period deceived and fascinated their deluded followers.
- 1867, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, translated by FE Bunnett, Undine:
  [T]he vessel swarmed with the most hideous apparitions. […] But Huldbrand was indignant at such unsightly jugglery [translating Gaukeleien].
(by extension) Trickery or deception in general, or an instance of such.
- 1942, Walter de la Mare, “All Hallows”, in Best Stories of Walter de la Mare:
  What they call the Great War is over […] and yet what do we see around us? Nothing but strife and juggleries and hatred and contempt and discord wherever you look.