CONJURER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conjurer mean? 

• CONJURER (noun)
  The noun CONJURER has 2 senses:

1. someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience

2. a witch doctor who practices conjury

  Familiarity information: CONJURER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONJURER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

conjurer; conjuror; illusionist; magician; prestidigitator

Hypernyms ("conjurer" is a kind of...):

performer; performing artist (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conjurer"):

escape expert; escapologist (an entertainer who is expert in the art of escaping)

mind reader; telepathist; thought-reader (a magician who seems to discern the thoughts of another person (usually by clever signals from an accomplice))

Derivation:

conjure (summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A witch doctor who practices conjury

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

conjure man; conjurer; conjuror

Hypernyms ("conjurer" is a kind of...):

witch doctor (someone who is believed to heal through magical powers)

 Context examples 

I'm here and there, and where not, like the conjurer's half-crown in the lady's handkercher.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Holmes stood before us with the air of a conjurer who is performing a trick.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The man is by trade a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a little entertainment at each.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Upon the strength of this reasoning, I ventured to address them in the following manner: Gentlemen, if you be conjurers, as I have good cause to believe, you can understand my language; therefore I make bold to let your worships know that I am a poor distressed Englishman, driven by his misfortunes upon your coast; and I entreat one of you to let me ride upon his back, as if he were a real horse, to some house or village where I can be relieved.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Well, and so this was kept a great secret, for fear of Mrs. Ferrars, and neither she nor your brother or sister suspected a word of the matter;—till this very morning, poor Nancy, who, you know, is a well-meaning creature, but no conjurer, popt it all out.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)