Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
intj
A phrase used (by a stage magician, etc.) as a magical incantation to bring about some change: abracadabra, hey presto.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: alakazam, shazam, abracadabra, hey pass, hey presto, hocus-pocus, kazaam, presto, presto chango
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Some ineffectual action or speech, especially if intended to divert attention; nonsense.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Religious or supernatural phenomena one holds to be nonsense or mere trickery; superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Some action carried out to bring about change as if by magic; a trick; sleight of hand, trickery.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, also, attributive, countable, uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: legerdemain, prestigiation, sleight of hand, conjuration, conjuring, dweomercraft, hocus-pocus, illusionism, jugglery, magic, prestidigitation
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A conjurer.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A conjurer's trick.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To play tricks or practise sleight of hand (on someone); (by extension) to cheat, to deceive.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive, colloquial, dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: trickery, slickness, hanky panky, jiggery-pokery, skulduggery, skullduggery
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: misrepresentation, deceit, deception
History
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.
Across languages
40 source translations are retained for this English entry.
