Black art

dabbling in the black arts

In 1690s Salem, anyone was at mortal risk of being accused of practicing the black arts.

For even the enchantresses Circe and Medea could not, by their black arts, prevent the unfaithfulness of Odysseus and Jason.

As a parish priest in England he had dabbled in the black arts, seduced a number of his congregation from their faith and finally celebrated the Black Mass.

Operating a hand card punch was something of a black art.

Traincrew management has always been a bit of a black art, rather than a science. The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.