hocus-pocus

Interjection

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

   Synonyms:

   alakazam, shazam, abracadabra, hey pass, hey presto, kazaam, presto, presto chango, shablam

Noun

hocus-pocus (usually uncountable, plural hocus-pocuses or hocus-pocusses or hoci-poci)

1. (usually) Some ineffectual action or speech, especially if intended to divert attention; nonsense.
2. (derogatory, usually) Religious or supernatural phenomena one holds to be nonsense or mere trickery; superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
   • 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...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
   • 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
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.

   Synonyms:

   legerdemain, prestigiation, sleight of hand, conjuration, conjuring, dweomercraft, illusionism, jugglery, magic, palmistry

4. (countable, obsolete, usually) A conjurer.
5. (countable, obsolete, usually) A conjurer's trick.

Verb

hocus-pocus (third-person singular simple present hocus-pocuses or hocus-pocusses or hocuses-pocuses or hocusses-pocusses, present participle hocus-pocusing or hocus-pocussing or hocusing-pocusing or hocussing-pocussing, simple past and past participle hocus-pocused or hocus-pocussed or hocused-pocused or hocussed-pocussed)

1. (ambitransitive, colloquial, dated) To play tricks or practise sleight of hand (on someone); (by extension) to cheat, to deceive.
   • [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...[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...
   • 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...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...