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Magic
  • adj. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain; compare automagically and (Arthur C. ) Clarke's 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. "
  • Characteristic of something that works although no one really understands why (this is especially called black magic).
  • [Stanford] A feature not generally publicized that allows something otherwise impossible, or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. Compare black magic, wizardly, deep magic, heavy wizardry. For more about hackish `magic', see A Story About `Magic' in Appendix A.