People who perform magic tricks by sleight of hand or misdirection, making things appear, disappear, or transform before your eyes.
From Old French 'conjurer' meaning to swear together or invoke, from Latin 'coniurare' (con- 'together' + iurare 'to swear'). The magic meaning developed because magicians were thought to be summoning spirits or using oaths to control supernatural forces.
The word 'conjure' originally meant to put someone under a magical oath or curse—it wasn't about entertaining tricks at all! Stage magicians borrowed the term because audiences genuinely believed they had supernatural powers, and the name stuck even after we figured out it was all clever misdirection.
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