HOCUS

Definition: HOCUS

HOCUS

Noun

1. Drugged liquor.

2. One who cheats or deceives.

Transitive verb

1. To stupefy with drugged liquor.

2. To adulterate; to drug; as, liquor is said to be hocused for the purpose of stupefying the drinker.

3. To deceive or cheat.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Date "HOCUS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1792. (references)

Deception

Trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon travelers; stratagem; (artifice); confidence trick, fake, hoax; theft; ballot-box stuffing barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game; shell game, thimblerig; skin game.

Decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle; entrap, intrap, ensnare; nick, springe; set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for; bait the hook, forelay, spread the toils, lime; trapan, trepan; kidnap; let in, hook in; nousle, nousel; blind a trail; enmesh, immesh; shanghai; catch, catch in a trap; sniggle, entangle, illaqueate, hocus, escamoter, practice on one's credulity; hum, humbug; gammon, stuff up, sell; play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on; balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale; fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand; make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of, make an ass of; trifle with, cajole, flatter; come over; (influence); gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon; dissemble.

Crosswords: HOCUS

Hocus Pocus Powwow (1968)

Hocus Pocus (performing artist: Focus)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Hocus Corpus (reference)

• Hocus Pocus: Halloween Crafts for a Spooktacular Holiday (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Hocus Pocus (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Hocus Pocus Live [Hollywood] [LIVE] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A piercing piece of loco foco hocus pocus. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Expressions using "HOCUS": hocus pocus ♦ hocus pocus!. Additional references.

Beginning with "HOCUS": hocus-pocus, hocus-pocus-nomminy-domminy.

Albanian

vë në lojë (guy, hoax, pull smb.'s leg, tease), shushas me drogë, mashtroj (bamboozle, befool, beguile, besot, bilk, cheat, chicane, chisel, cozen, deceive, defalcate, defraud, delude, diddle, do, finagle, fleece, flimflam, fob, fool, fudge, gyp, hoodwink, hose, impose, jockey, juggle, lead on, mislead, mump, nobble, overreach, palter, queer, ready up, shortchange, swindle, take advantage of, take for a ride), i punoj një rreng (hoax), i fus drogë në pijë. (various references)

Arabic 

‏هراء (balderdash, baloney, boloney, bosh, bull, bunk, claptrap, drivel, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, fudge, hocus pocus, humbug, moonshine, nonsense, piffle, piffling, ramble, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, slush, tosh, trash, trumpery, wind), ‏خدع (bamboozle, beguile, betray, bilk, bitch, bite, blind, bluff, brown, bubble, camouflage, catch, cheat, chisel, con, crook, deceive, deception, decoy, defraud, delude, diddle, do, dupe, entrap, fall for, feint, fiddle, fob, fool, fox, get round, give the lie to, gull, gyp, hoax, hocus pocus, humbug, illusory, impose, intrigue, jape, job, leg pull, lure, mislead, mock, mystify, nick, overreach, pitch, play a trick, pose, prank, pull a fast one, pull his leg, ream, rook, sell, settle his hash, skin, skunk, slang, stick, string along, swank, swindle, take for a ride, take in, trick, victimize, wile). (various references)

Bulgarian 

упойвам (bemuse, dope), мамя (cozen, deceive, dupe, fiddle, flim-flam, gag, gouge, hoodwink, impose, jockey, juggle, mock, play along, play possum with, rook, shark, stick, string along, take, twist, victimize), погаждам номер (rag), питие с наркотик. (various references)

Czech

klamat (belie, bluff, deceive, mock, trick). (various references)

French

tour de passe-passe (hocus pocus), supercherie (hocus pocus), charabia (hocus pocus), attrape (hoax, hocus pocus). (various references)

German

hokuspokus (conjuring trick, hey presto, hocus pocus, jiggery pokery, malarkey, mumbo jumbo, palaver), faule tricks (hocus pocus). (various references)

Greek 

ξεγελώ (bamboozle, bite, deceive, delude, diddle, euchre, fake out, have on, hoodwink, inveigle, juggle, outsmart, outwit, spoof, trick), ναρκώνω (anaesthetize, benumb, chloroform, numb), ναρκώ (torpify). (various references)

Hebrew 

�"וקוס פוקוס (hocus pocus). (various references)

Hungarian

kábítószert tartalmazó ital. (various references)

Indonesian

mempermainkan (make a fool of someone, quiz), memabukkan (intoxicate). (various references)

Italian

ingannare (abuse, bamboozle, be mistaken, be wrong, beguile, bluff, cheat, cod, deceive, delude, do, dupe, fool, Fox, gull, hoax, hoodwink, impose, kid, lie, mislead, stall, swindle, trick, trickery, victimise, victimize), imbrogliare (cheat, cozen, diddle, do, embroil, entangle, entrap, fob, fool, garble, get confused, get entangled, get tangled, mix up, mystify, overreach, rook, sell, spoof, swindle, tangle, trick), drogare (dope, drug, nobble, season, spice, take drugs), abbindolare (cheat, deceive, defraud, dodge, dupe, rook). (various references)

Manx

doalgaanee (daze, hocus-pocus), cur doalgaanee er (daze of drug, hocus-pocus). (various references)

Pig Latin

ocushay.(various references)

Portuguese

mistificar (bamboozle, flimflam, green, gull, hoax, hocus-pocus, humbug, mystify, spoof, trick, wangle), impostor (charlatan, cheat, counterfeit, humbug, imposter, impostor, juggler, phoney, phony, quack, quacksalver, sham, shammer, shyster, swindler, trickster), enganar (abuse, avoid, bamboozle, befool, beguile, belie, blind, bluff, cheat, chisel, chouse, cod, cozen, deceive, delude, diddle, double, double-cross, duck, dupe, err, fake, falsify, finesse, flimflam, fob, foist, fool, fox, gag, gammon, gouge, green, gull, gyp, ha, have, hocus-pocus, hoodwink, hum, humbug, impose, inveigle, jink, jockey, juggle, lace, lie, lurch, mislead, mock, mystify, out-jockey, overreach, palm, rip off, skin, sklent, spoof, take in, trepan, trick, victimize, wangle, wile), dar um narc�tico, bebida falsificada. (various references)

Romanian

pune narcotic, pãcãli (cheat, deceive, diddle, do, dupe, fool, gammon, get, gull, hoax, hornswoggle, kid, let in, lime, nobble, outflank, outsmart, outwit, sell, Spruce, stuff, trick, trump, twist), narcotiza (dope, drug, narcotize), înşela (abuse, bamboozle, beguile, betray, bluff, cheat, chouse, circumvent, cog, con, cozen, cuckold, deceive, defraud, delude, diddle, disappoint, do, do brown, do something crooked, double cross, dupe, fiddle, frustrate, gag, get round, gull, hoodwink, humbug, impose, jockey, juggle, mock, mystify, nobble, out-jockey, pigeon, queer, ramp, rook, sharp, shuffle, swindle, trick, victimize). (various references)

Russian 

обманывать (befool, beguile, bilk, cheat, deceive, deceiving, defraud, delude, disappoint, do, double cross, flimflam, fob, fool into thinking, gag, gull, hoodwink, impose, jockey, juggle, kid, mump, practise deceit, practise deception, prey, pull a fast one, swindle, victimize), одурманить, одурманивать (befuddle). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

opseniti (blind, glamorize, hocus pocus). (various references)

Spanish

engañar (bamboozle, be deceptive, befool, beguile, belie, betray, bilk, bite, bluff, buffalo, cheat, cheat on, circumvent, con, cozen, deceive, delude, do a room, double cross, dupe, fob, fool, hoax, hoodwink, kill, mislead, mystify, outsmart, pull a fast one, put across, put off, put over, put upon, spoof, stay, swindle, take in, trick, while away), emborrachar (fuddle, get drunk, inebriate, intoxicate, prime). (various references)

Swedish

hokuspokus (hey presto, hocus pocus), simsalabim (hocus pocus), lura (bamboozle, beat, befool, beguile, cheat, chicane, chisel, chouse, clip, cod, con, cozen, deceive, decoy, delude, diddle, do, do down, dope, double cross, double-cross, dupe, entrap, euchre, flay, fool, Fox, gaff, gudgeon, gull, have, hoax, hocus pocus, hokey-pokey, hoodwink, hook, humbug, impose, inveigle, jockey, kid, lure, out-jockey, overreach, rip off, rook, sell, short-change, swindle, trick), gyckelspel (hocus pocus, illusion, phantasmagoria), fiffel (crooked dealings, fiddle, hocus pocus, hustle, jiggery pokery, jiggery-pokery, manipulations, shenanigan, tricks, wangle). (various references)

Turkish

uyuşturucu vermek (dope, drug), uyuşturucu katmak, sersemletmek (bemuse, bewilder, daze, dizzy, dull, fuddle, make dizzy, make giddy, send smb. reeling, stun, stupefy), oyun etmek (deceive, hoax, palter, play a trick, play a trick on smb., play smb. a trick, pull a fast one, trick), aldatmak (bamboozle, be unfaithful, bilk, cheat, cuckold, deceive, defraud, delude, do down, double cross, fake, feint, finagle, Fox, gammon, gull, gyp, have, hoodwink, hornswoggle, humbug, palter, play smb. false, put it over on, sell, sell smb. a packet, sell smb. a pup, spoof, string, stuff smb., take for a ride, take in, trick, two time, victimize). (various references)

Ukrainian

обдурювати (befool, bilk, cheat, chouse, cod, cog, counterfeit, deceive, doodle, dupe, flimflam, gull, hoax, hoodwink, humbug, jockey, juggle, prey, put upon, queer, sell short), одурманювати (dope, fuddle). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "HOCUS": hocused, hocuses, hocusing, hocussed, hocusses, hocussing. (additional references)

Misspellings

"HOCUS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Chocques, hbcu, hcu, hocas, hochs, hoco, hocs, Hokus, Homco, homus, honus, Horcum, houc, hous, houues, jocus, oecus, ohaus, Phocas. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: cosh, ouch, such.

-2 letters: cos, ohs, sou.

-3 letters: ho, oh, os, sh, so, uh, us.

+1 letter: chorus, chouse, choush, coughs, couths, ouches, scouth, slouch.

+2 letters: aurochs, cachous, choughs, choused, chouser, chouses, chylous, chymous, cloughs, cohunes, couches, cushion, douches, gauchos, hocused, hocuses, mouches, nonsuch, ochrous, pouches, rouches, scouths, slouchy, subecho, succoth, touches, vouches.

+3 letters: avouches, bouchees, bronchus, buckshot, cathouse, chabouks, chibouks, chlorous, choragus, choregus, chorused, choruses, chousers, choushes, chousing, chromous, chubasco, cockshut, copihues, cornhusk, cothurns, couchers, coughers, couthest, crouches, cushions, cushiony, futhorcs, gouaches, grouches, hocusing, hocussed, hocusses, hummocks, icehouse, ichorous, insomuch, mistouch, nonesuch, ocherous, ochreous, pachucos, rhonchus, scholium, scouther, selcouth, shortcut, slouched, sloucher, slouches, souchong, soutache, subepoch, sunchoke, sunporch, touchers, touchups, tuckshop, unchokes, unchosen, vouchees, vouchers.