What is the difference between spell and magic?
spell | magic |
(obsolete) Speech, discourse.
Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.
A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula.
(obsolete) To speak, to declaim.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.ii:
(obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.
* T. Warton
To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.
* Dryden
* Sir G. Buck
(obsolete) To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort.
* 1851 , :
To be able to write or say the letters that form words.
Of letters: to compose (a word).
* {{quote-book, year=2008, author=Helen Fryer, title=The Esperanto Teacher
, isbn=9780554320076, page=13, publisher=BiblioBazaar, LLC, passage=In Esperanto each letter has only one sound, and each sound is represented in only one way. The words are pronounced exactly as spelt , every letter being sounded.}}
(figuratively) To indicate that (some event) will occur.
* 2003 , U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbel, Hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation , ISBN 1422334120:
To constitute; to measure.
* Fuller
To work in place of (someone).
To rest (someone or something).
A shift (of work); a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour.
A period of (work or other activity).
*
, title= * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport
, title= An indefinite period of time (usually with some qualifying word).
* 1975 , (Bob Dylan), (Tangled Up in Blue)
A period of rest; time off.
(US) A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc.
(cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler.
The use of rituals or actions, especially based on supernatural or occult knowledge, to manipulate or obtain information about the natural world, especially when seen as falling outside the realm of religion; also the forces allegedly drawn on for such practices.
*c. 1489 , (William Caxton), Foure Sonnes of Aymon :
*:And whan he shall be arrayed as I telle you / lete hym thenne doo his incantacyons & his magyke as he wyll […].
*1781 , (Edward Gibbon), Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , II.23:
*:The arts of magic and divination were strictly prohibited.
*1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 23:
*:Conversions to the new religion […] have frequently been assisted by the view of converts that they are acquiring not just a means of otherworldly salvation, but a new and more powerful magic .
A specific ritual or procedure associated with supernatural magic or with mysticism; a spell.
Something producing remarkable results, especially when not fully understood; an enchanting quality; exceptional skill.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=1 A conjuring trick or illusion performed to give the appearance of supernatural phenomena or powers.
Having supernatural talents, properties or qualities attributed to magic.
Producing extraordinary results, as though through the use of magic; wonderful, amazing.
Pertaining to conjuring tricks or illusions performed for entertainment etc.
(colloquial) Great; excellent.
(physics) Describing the number of nucleons in a particularly stable isotopic nucleus; 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126, and 184.
To produce, transform (something), (as if) by magic.
In transitive terms the difference between spell and magic
is that spell is to rest (someone or something) while magic is to produce, transform (something), (as if) by magic.As nouns the difference between spell and magic
is that spell is speech, discourse while magic is the use of rituals or actions, especially based on supernatural or occult knowledge, to manipulate or obtain information about the natural world, especially when seen as falling outside the realm of religion; also the forces allegedly drawn on for such practices.As verbs the difference between spell and magic
is that spell is to speak, to declaim while magic is to produce, transform (something), (as if) by magic.As an adjective magic is
having supernatural talents, properties or qualities attributed to magic.As a proper noun Magic is
the decrypted Japanese messages produced by US cryptographers in and prior to World War II.spell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) spel, spellian, spelian, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- He cast a spell to cure warts.
- under a spell
Synonyms
* (words or formula supposed to have magical powers) cantrip, incantation * (magical effect induced by an incantation or formula) cantripVerb
(en verb)- O who can tell / The hidden power of herbes, and might of Magicke spell ?
- Might I that legend find, / By fairies spelt in mystic rhymes.
- Spelled with words of power.
- He was much spelled with Eleanor Talbot.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
- "He'll do," said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible.
- I find it difficult to spell because I'm dyslexic.
- The letters “a”, “n” and “d” spell “and”.
citation
- This spells trouble.
- Please spell it out for me.
- When we get elected, for instance, we get one of these, and we are pretty much told what is in it, and it is our responsibility to read it and understand it, and if we do not, the Ethics Committee, we can call them any time of day and ask them to spell it out for us
- the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell but one in effect
Derived terms
* speller * spelling * spelloSynonyms
* (to indicate that some event will occur) forebode; mean; signify * (to work in place of someone else) relieve * (to compose a word) (informal) compriseEtymology 3
Origin uncertain; perhaps a form of (speld).Etymology 4
From (etyl) spelen, from (etyl) .Verb
- to spell the helmsman
- They spelled the horses and rested in the shade of some trees near a brook.
Noun
(en noun)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}
Liverpool 0-1 West Brom, passage=Despite his ill-fated spell at Anfield, he received a warm reception from the same Liverpool fans he struggled to win over before being sacked midway through last season.}}
- I had a job in the great North Woods
- Workin' as a cook for a spell .
- But I never did like it all that much
- And one day the ax just fell.
Derived terms
* dry spell * set a spellQuotations
* (English Citations of "spell")Anagrams
* 1000 English basic words ----magic
English
Alternative forms
* magick (qualifier) Used as a deliberate archaism; used for supernatural magic, as distinguished from stage magic. * magicke (obsolete) * magique (obsolete)Noun
(en-noun)citation, passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}
Synonyms
* (allegedly supernatural method to dominate natural forces) dwimmer, thaumaturgy, conjuring, sorcery, witchcraft, dweomercraft/dwimmercraft * (illusion performed to give the appearance of magic or the supernatural) sleight of hand, illusionism, legerdemain, dwimmerAdjective
(-)- a magic''' wand; a '''magic dragon
- a magic moment
- a magic''' show; a '''magic trick
- — I cleaned up the flat while you were out. — Really? Magic !