parlour trick

English

Noun

parlour trick (plural parlour tricks)

1. Synonym of party trick (“trick performed for entertainment”)
   • 1992, René Echevarria, “True Q”, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 6, episode 6, spoken by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Steward):

     You may be nearly omnipotent—and I don't deny that your parlor tricks are very impressive—but morality? I don't see it.

2. (figurative) A piece of trickery or falsehood, especially a trivial one.

   Coordinate term: dirty trick