hocus-pocus
American Heritage Dictionary:
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ho·cus-po·cus
(hō'kəs-pō'kəs) 
n.
To play tricks on; deceive.
n.
- Nonsense words or phrases used as a formula by quack conjurers.
- A trick performed by a magician or juggler; sleight-of-hand.
- Foolishness or empty pretense used especially to disguise deception or chicanery.
To play tricks on; deceive.
[Possibly from an alteration of Latin hoc est corpus (meum), this is (my) body (words used in the Eucharist at the time of transubstantiation).]
Roget's Thesaurus:
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hocus-pocus
noun
- Esoteric, formulaic, and often incomprehensible speech relating to the occult: abracadabra, gibberish, mumbo jumbo. See clear/unclear, supernatural, words.
Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology:
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Hocus Pocus
Words of pseudomagical import. According to Sharon Turner in The History of the Anglo-Saxons (4 vols., 1799-1805), they were believed to be derived from "Ochus Bochus," a magician and demon of the north. It is more probable, however, that they are a corruption of the Latin hoc est corpus (this is my body), words spoken during the act of transubstantiation in the Roman Catholic Mass. The term has been used since the seventeenth century as a preface to the tricks of conjuring magicians. Conjurers used to introduce tricks with the sham Latin formula, "Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, rade celeriter jubeo."
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'hocus-pocus'
- Confusion
- Pranks and Tricks - hocus-pocus: nonsense, sleight of hand, or trickery used to conceal deception
- Rites, Practices, Spells, and Symbols - hocus-pocus: nonsense and sleight of hand used to cloak deception in magic rites
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Hocus Pocus
Hocus pocus, hocus-pocus, or hokus pokus is a term used by magicians; usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change, which originated as a stage name for the magician William Vincent. It has been stipualted that the term rose as a pejorative against Catholics, based on a perversion of the sacramental blessing (the Words of Institution) Hoc est corpus meum ("This is my body").
It may also refer to:
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Contents
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Books
- Hocus Pocus (novel), a 1990 novel by Kurt Vonnegut
- Hocus Pocus: A Tale of Magnificent Magicians, a 2007 book by illusionist Paul Kieve
- Hokus Pokus, the 2007 book in the Sisterhood: Rules of the Game series by Fern Michaels
Film and television
- Hokus Pokus (1949 film), the 115th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges
- Hocus Pocus (1993 film), a 1993 Halloween-themed fantasy/comedy film that was released by Disney and directed by Kenny Ortega
- Hocus Pocus, the fictional rabbit who turns on his magician owner in the 1969 Christmas television special Frosty the Snowman
- Hocus Pocus, a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from Season 4.
Music
- Hocus Pocus (Enon album), the 2003 indie rock album by Enon
- "Hocus Pocus" (Focus song), a 1971 yodelling song from Focus' second album Focus II
- The Best of Focus: Hocus Pocus, a 1993 Focus compilation album on which the instrumental appears
- Hocus Pocus (group), a hip hop/jazz band from Nantes, France
- "Hokus Pokus" (Insane Clown Posse song), a song from studio album, The Great Milenko
- Hocus Pocus (Kaela Kimura album), the 2009 J-pop album by Kaela Kimura
- Doop (band) (later Hocus Pocus), a dance music production act from the Netherlands
- UFO, as well as Heart, had the same name at the turn of 60's and 70's
Other
- Hocus Pocus (video game), a 1994 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Moonlite Software
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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
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Translations:
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Hocus-pocus
Dansk (Danish)
n. - hokuspokus, fup, taskenspilleri
v. tr. - fuppe
Nederlands (Dutch)
hocus-pocus, voor-de-gek- houderij, goochelen, beetnemen, bedwelmen
Français (French)
n. - tour de passe-passe, supercherie, charabia, blabla (de politiciens)
v. tr. - faire des tours de passe-passe
Deutsch (German)
n. - Hokuspokus
v. - Gaukelei treiben, betrügen
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απάτη, ξόρκια
v. - κάνω κόλπα, ξεγελώ
Italiano (Italian)
raggiro, raggirare
Português (Portuguese)
n. - truque (m), fraude (m)
v. - enganar
Русский (Russian)
фокус-покус, очковтирательство
Español (Spanish)
n. - abracadabra, engaño, decepción
v. tr. - mistificar, engañar, decepcionar
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hokuspokus, bedrägeri, nonsens
v. - göra trollkonster, lura
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
戏法, 变戏法的咒文, 奇术, 变戏法, 耍花招
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 戲法, 變戲法的咒文, 奇術
v. tr. - 變戲法, 耍花招
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 요술, 기술, 속임수
v. tr. - 요술을 부리다, 감쪽같이 속이다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 呪文, 手品, ごまかし, まやかし
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) خفه يد أو براعه في ألعاب الشعوذة أو الخداع, حيله من حيل الشعوذة تتطلب خفه يد, هراء أو تمويه يصطنع لتغطيه الخداع (فعل) يخدع
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - הולכת שולל, אחיזת-עיניים, הוקוס פוקוס, נוסחת-דיבור נפוצה להעלאה באוב
v. tr. - ביצע תעלולים
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
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Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Hocus Pocus.
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