A double lift is a sleight of hand used by magicians in card magic. It is a method by which the magician can keep the identity of the top card secret by lifting the top two cards at once while making it seem as if only the top card is displayed. Hence, the audience is tricked into believing that they are shown the top card in the deck where in fact they are shown the second card. There are different ways to perform this sleight, many of which allow variations such as a triple lift or even a quadruple lift (turning over three or four cards over as one respectively).
Some versions of the Ambitious card routine rely almost entirely upon this sleight. In combination with a few other mechanics and good showmanship, entire acts can and have been made out of this single move.
Famous quotes containing the words double and/or lift:
“Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another—secret and passionate and intense—which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends. Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“I pray every single second of my life; not on my knees, but with my work. My prayer is to lift woman to equality with man. Work and worship are one with me. I can not imagine a God of the universe made happy by my getting down on my knees and calling him “great.””
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)