artilugio

n. contraption, gadget, thing

= gaff.
Ex: There are magicians that choose not to work with gaffs of any type because they want to take magic in new directions.

1 = artefact [artifact], whatchamacallit.
Nota: Expresión utilizada para referirse a un objeto del que no se recuerda el nombre; abreviatura de 'What do you call it?'.
Ex: An artefact is any object made or modified by man.
Ex: In his book's section 'Watchamacallit' he forecasts that communication between user and machine will be through voice for entering text and a pen-like device for pointing.

2 = trick, stalking horse.
Ex: But if variable-length keys are not supported by a data base, various tricks are often necessary to provide access to the library data which has inherently variable-length keys.
Ex: Legalism and pragmatism were the intellectual stalking horses that contributed most to the victory of economic interest over human concerns in this case.
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* artilugios = crafty ways.