HOCUS-POCUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Hocus-pocus

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/hˈoʊkəs-pˈoʊkəs/ Listen

noun

Hocus-pocus n.

A term used by magicians or conjurers in pretended incantations.

A juggler or trickster. (Archaic)

A magician's trick; a cheat; nonsense.

Obfuscating talk or elaborate but meaningless activity intended to hide a deception or to obscure what is actually happening; verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way.

Synonyms: trickery, slickness, hanky panky, jiggery-pokery, skulduggery, skullduggery.

verb

Hocus-pocus v. t. To cheat. (Colloq.)

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Etymology of 'Hocus-pocus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Hocus-pocus" Quotes from Famous Books

... the year, will receive a fraction of this money—perhaps even so large a fraction as one half. It may be that, ere now, some obliging person about the City Hall has offered to buy the claim for $1000, and take the risk of the hocus-pocus necessary for getting it—which to him is no ...

— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe

... regular troops, and a regiment of Oregon mounted volunteers under command of Colonel James W. Nesmith—subsequently for several years United States Senator from Oregon. The whole force was under the command of Major Rains, Fourth Infantry, who, in order that he might rank Nesmith, by some hocus-pocus had been made a brigadier-general, under an appointment from the Governor of ...

— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... explained, any more'n Abe here! You prefer hocus-pocus. And nothin' will teach you. Take Rhody! Sees Michaelis flunk his job miserable. Sees Mary go down like a woman shot, hands and legs paralyzed again,—Doctor says, for good, this time. And what does the girl do about it? Spends the night out yonder laborin' with them benighted ...

— The Faith Healer - A Play in Three Acts • William Vaughn Moody

... land?" I queried: for I did not understand all this hocus-pocus of locating any given spot in the Iowa prairies in 1855. ...

— Vandemark's Folly • Herbert Quick

... I see! Pipes and iron safes and hocus-pocus! But I do not care!" He turned to Doloria and, taking one of her hands, said: "You, mon ami, shall find your heart's best desire. It is I who say it!—I, who have the authority!" The way he clung to that ...

— Wings of the Wind • Credo Harris

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