Dictionary

hocus-pocus en · INTJ

Pronunciation

• /-kɪs/ (General-American)
• /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌhoʊkəs ˈpoʊkəs/ (General-American)
• (Received-Pronunciation) audio

Etymology

Pseudo-Latinism. The interjection and noun are derived from pseudo-Latin magical incantations used by conjurers (formerly called “jugglers”) such as “hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo” (by a particular 17th-century conjurer who allegedly adopted the moniker Hocus Pocus) and “hax pax max Deus adimax”. The suggestion that the term is a corruption of words from the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, “hoc est enim corpus meum” (“this is my [i.e., Jesus’s] body”), was made in a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson (1630–1694), but is not generally accepted. The verb is derived from the noun.

Meanings

1. A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto.

Forms

Deriveds

hokum

Synonyms

presto chango · shablam · shazam · hey pass · kazaam · abracadabra · alakazam · hey presto · presto · alakazam · hocus-pocus · shazam

Translations (29)

it abracadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · ca abracadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · nl hocus pocus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · fi hokkuspokkus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · id simsalabim (phrase used as a magical incantation) · pl czary-mary (phrase used as a magical incantation) · sv abrakadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · ru си́м-салаби́м (phrase used as a magical incantation) · de Abrakadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · ja ちちんぷいぷい (phrase used as a magical incantation) · de Simsalabim (phrase used as a magical incantation) · sh hòkus-pòkus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · xal илв-җилв (phrase used as a magical incantation) · hu hókuszpókusz (phrase used as a magical incantation) · de Hokuspokus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · la abracadābra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · sv hokuspokus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · fr hocus-pocus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · sv hokus pokus filiokus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · be фо́кус-по́кус (phrase used as a magical incantation) · es abracadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · ru ахала́й-махала́й (phrase used as a magical incantation) · fr abracadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · cs hokus pokus (phrase used as a magical incantation) · pt abracadabra (phrase used as a magical incantation) · sh хо̀кус-по̀кус (phrase used as a magical incantation) · uk фо́кус-по́кус (phrase used as a magical incantation) · ru фо́кус-по́кус (phrase used as a magical incantation) · pl hokus-pokus (phrase used as a magical incantation)

wikipedia: John Tillotson · wikipedia: Archbishop of Canterbury · wikipedia: Robert Ibbitson · wikipedia: Jesus

hocus-pocus en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /-kɪs/ (General-American)
• /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌhoʊkəs ˈpoʊkəs/ (General-American)
• (Received-Pronunciation) audio

Etymology

Pseudo-Latinism. The interjection and noun are derived from pseudo-Latin magical incantations used by conjurers (formerly called “jugglers”) such as “hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo” (by a particular 17th-century conjurer who allegedly adopted the moniker Hocus Pocus) and “hax pax max Deus adimax”. The suggestion that the term is a corruption of words from the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, “hoc est enim corpus meum” (“this is my [i.e., Jesus’s] body”), was made in a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson (1630–1694), but is not generally accepted. The verb is derived from the noun.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Some ineffectual action or speech, especially if intended to divert attention; nonsense.
2. (derogatory, uncountable, usually) Religious or supernatural phenomena one holds to be nonsense or mere trickery; superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
   • The ego thinks that his local time and space is all there is to reality, and that the busy affairs of state and trade are more important than a lot of obscurantist hocus-pocus. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 180:
   • How was it possible that I, a rational man, not unacquainted with the leading scientific facts of our history, and hitherto an absolute and utter disbeliever in all the hocus-pocus which in Europe goes by the name of the supernatural, could believe that I had within the last few minutes been engaged in conversation with a woman two thousand and odd years old? 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “A Soul in Hell”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 158:
3. (US, also, attributive, countable, uncountable, usually) Some action carried out to bring about change as if by magic; a trick; sleight of hand, trickery.
4. (countable, obsolete, usually) A conjurer.
5. (countable, obsolete, usually) A conjurer's trick.

Forms

Deriveds

hocus · hocus-pocuser · hokey pokey · hokeypokey · hocus-pocusser · hanky-panky

Synonyms

magic · legerdemain · legerdemain · illusionism · conjuration · prestigiation · jugglery · hocus-pocus · prestidigitation · conjuring · sleight of hand · sleight of hand · dweomercraft · palmistry · prestigiation

Translations (10)

fi hokkuspokkus (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · de Hokuspokus (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · hu hókuszpókusz (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · pl hokus-pokus (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · fi hölynpöly (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · fr abracadabra (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · ru фо́кус (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · az hoqqa (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · bg фо́кус (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery) · ru фо́кус-по́кус (some (ineffectual) action carried out to bring about change as if by magic — see also nonsense, trick, trickery)

wikipedia: John Tillotson · wikipedia: Archbishop of Canterbury · wikipedia: Robert Ibbitson · wikipedia: Jesus

hocus-pocus en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /-kɪs/ (General-American)
• /ˌhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌhoʊkəs ˈpoʊkəs/ (General-American)
• (Received-Pronunciation) audio

Etymology

Pseudo-Latinism. The interjection and noun are derived from pseudo-Latin magical incantations used by conjurers (formerly called “jugglers”) such as “hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo” (by a particular 17th-century conjurer who allegedly adopted the moniker Hocus Pocus) and “hax pax max Deus adimax”. The suggestion that the term is a corruption of words from the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, “hoc est enim corpus meum” (“this is my [i.e., Jesus’s] body”), was made in a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson (1630–1694), but is not generally accepted. The verb is derived from the noun.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive, colloquial, dated) To play tricks or practise sleight of hand (on someone); (by extension) to cheat, to deceive.
   • Can it be that under this Bill Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County are going to be hocussed-pocussed out of their valuable public properties? 1917, Annual Report, Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Baltimore, page 39, column 1:
   • He was an admirable mimic, so that he kept us roaring with laughter, as he hocussed-pocussed, and fussed and fumed like the former captain of the Water Sprite. 1897, Andrew Balfour, “Of the Taking of the Donna Bella”, in By Stroke of Sword: […] , London: Methuen and Company, […], page 161:
   • Hocusing-pocusing, / Didi von Hoden, / Wagnerian temptress and Circean witch, / Shimmied and shook herself / While she was wearing, e- / Rotomaniac’lly, / Nary a stitch. 1996, Alan Isler, chapter 4, in Kraven Images, Random House, published 2011, →ISBN:
   • [T]hat which we call Good Humour, is in Truth but a ſort of Slight of Hand in Diſcourſe, or a Faculty of making Truths look like Appearances, or Appearances like Truths. Now this Gift of Hocus Pocuſing, and of Diſguiſing Matters, is ſo Surpriſing and Agreeable on the one hand, that it muſt of Neceſſity be a very ſtrong Temptation to the Quitting of the Beaten Road on the other. [1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Poggius.] Fab[le] CCCLV. A Woman Drown’d [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, pages 325–326:
   • But it was possible to say something about Cahirciveen—that it has a nunnery, a market-house, a reading-room.^([sic]) and a Fever Hospital, and, being just two miles from the Valentia slate-quarry, that its houses are slated; but it was impossible to say a single word in defence of Derrynane Beg;—so the two, though seventeen miles apart, were “hocussed-pocussed” together, and it all went down as gospel in Conciliation Hall, that because the houses of Cahirciveen were slated from the quarry close by, ergo, my description of the wretched hovels of Derrynane Beg with their rotten potato-stalk thatches, was monstrously incorrect. 1846, Thomas Campbell Foster, “Challenge to Mr. O’Connell to Prove the Condition of His Estate.—Waterford; Its Neglected Advantages and Capabilities.”, in Letters on the Condition of the People of Ireland, London: Chapman and Hall, […], footnote, pages 457–458:
   • There was no adequate principle at all in beginning with the gross income of a railway company, and when they came to deal with deductions they would be hocussed-pocussed in the Law Courts, and would have an abiding code of procedure which, even if they got a new tribunal, would be difficult to overcome. 1903, Railway Times, page 67, column 1:
   • But jest argufy this t’other way, and then see how it’d be; for there ain’t no ladies as go marrying Codlings and Humpys—begging your pardon, Mr. Humpy—and Chequerses—not they; they’d be right down hocussed-pocussed and back-parloured in no time; and so, you see, it ain’t according, and all you said about veal pies and oat-cakes goes for nothing, Mr. Humpy. 1871, G. T. Lowth, chapter IX, in The Morrices; or, The Doubtful Marriage, volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, […] , page 227:
   • The curse of the Church today is that large portions of the church represent the Christ either as a baby in a mother’s arms, a dead man on a crucifix, or, as in the blasphemous idolatry of the mass, which declares that a bit of bread, stamped by the hand of a priest and hocused-pocused with his Latin, has been transformed into the body, blood and bones of Jesus, the Christ. 1903, Leaves of Healing, section “False Representations of the Christ”, page 304, column 2:
   • I am convinced some mauvais génie has done this deliberately, some perverse descendant of the Enlightenment, an impish fool who gets his kicks by hocussing-pocussing religion; 1993, Gerard Flynn, The Bronx Boy: No More Awnings in the Bronx, →ISBN, page 120:
   • The holidays usually serve as a source of happiness to the majority of us; but to George Ross they bring back with great forcefulness the bitter remembrance of the time he was hocused-pocused on Main Street quite some time ago.[…]After ten minutes more of continual hocusing pocusing” it dawned upon George that he was the guy that had been “hocused pocused.” 1916, The American Photo Engraver, page 131, column 2; 132, column 1:
   • She was fair and above board dealing with her, and no hocusing-pocusing, and every farthing paid to the last shilling, though she did remark that sherry might have been three-and-six, and four were ru’nation ’igh. 1865, W[illiam] C[arew] Hazlitt, “Further Glimpses of Uncle Tom”, in Sophy Laurie: A Novel, volume III, London: John Maxwell and Company, […], page 197:
   • Indeed, when he played the Liszt Variations on Bach’s “Weinen, Klagen, Zagen,” he did it in a way that left one somewhat hocussed-pocussed. 1948, Music Reporter, page 135, column 4:

Forms

Deriveds

hocus-pocuser

Translations (1)

pl robić triki (to play tricks or practise slight of hand (on someone))

wikipedia: John Tillotson · wikipedia: Archbishop of Canterbury · wikipedia: Robert Ibbitson · wikipedia: Jesus