Glossary of Magic (illusion) - S

S

• Secret - core principle of conjuring; something which should not be shared, usually a method, sleight, or other means of accomplishing an effect.
• 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.
• Siva Count - also known as the reversed elmsley count, is a false count done usually after executing an Elmsley count.
• Sleeving - dropping an object up a sleeve to vanish it.
• Sleeve Toss - a technique used in dove magic.
• 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.
• Slip-on corner - a corner of a card that can be placed over the actual corner of a card. These corners show a rank and suit different from the card's actual.
• 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.