1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explaincompare 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."2. Characteristic of something that works although no one really understands why (this is especially called {black magic}).3. (Stanford) A feature not generally publicised that allows something otherwise impossible or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled.Compare wizardly, deep magic, heavy wizardry.For more about hackish "magic" see Magic Switch Story.4. magic number.[Jargon File](2001-03-19)