Archaic term for deception or trickery using smoke, fumes, or obscuring methods; the practice of using fumes to hide or deceive (obsolete).
From 'fumis-' (smoke, Latin 'fumus') plus '-tery' or '-terie' (craft or practice), combining French-influenced word-building with the idea that smoke obscures truth.
Medieval alchemists and early chemists were sometimes accused of 'fumistery'—using dramatic smoke and fumes to dazzle audiences and hide the fact that their experiments weren't actually working.
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