meaning of magic
1. A comprehensive name for all of the pretended arts which claim to produce effects by the assistance of supernatural beings, or departed spirits, or by a mastery of secret forces in nature attained by a study of occult science, including enchantment, conjuration, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, incantation, etc.
2. Alt. of Magical
3. MAGIC An early system on the Midac computer. [Listed in CACM 25:16 May 1959]. [Jargon File]
4. magic 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain; compare automagically and Arthur C. Clarkes Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. "TTY echoing is controlled by a large number of magic bits. " "This routine magically computes the parity of an 8-bit byte in three instructions. " 2. Characteristic of something that works although no one really understands why this is especially called black magic. 3. Stanford A feature not generally publicised that allows something otherwise impossible or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. Compare wizardly, deep magic, heavy wizardry. For more about hackish "magic" see Magic Switch Story. 4. magic number. [Jargon File]
Related Words
magic | magic bullet | magic cookie | magic number | magic paper | magic smoke | magic switch story | magical | magically | magician |
