hocus

American  

[hoh-kuhs] / ˈhoʊ kəs /

verb (used with object)

hocused, hocusing, hocussed, hocussing

1. to play a trick on; hoax; cheat.

2. to stupefy with drugged liquor.

3. to drug (liquor).

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hocus British  

/ ˈhəʊkəs /

verb

1. to take in; trick

2. to stupefy, esp with a drug

3. to add a drug to (a drink)

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Etymology

Origin of hocus

First recorded in 1665–75; short for hocus-pocus

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hocus hocused hocussed hocussing

“What he did for those 20 hours is hocus pocus,” Richards said in urging jurors to reject consideration of the image.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 15, 2021

It will be revealed that Bran is both Brandon the Wall Builder and the Night King by some time travel Three-Eyed Raven hocus pocus.

From The Guardian ● May 1, 2019

It knows it’s always being upstaged by the hocus pocus of its own medium.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 8, 2016

Or you could say it was an unintended pulling back of the curtain on all the hocus pocus that goes into healthcare costs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2016

He was a very civil, kind man, though he did speak like the Hessians; he lifted up his eyes and said, "They play hocus pocus tricks enough there, Got knows, mine friend."

From The Contrast by Royall Tyler

He is Moore hocused for the American market.

From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 Volume 23, Number 2 by Various

It must have been working as sweet and steady as ever, all the time it was Inverted, except that, being inside out, it had hocused the direction finders.

From The Big Time by Fritz Leiber

Realizing this almost gave my mind stage fright, but I was too fagged to be hocused by self-consciousness.

From The Big Time by Fritz Leiber

“Here, you’d better do the throwing, or you’ll be swearing I’ve hocussed the coin,” said Dawes, with a dry smile.

From The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley by Bertram Mitford

Ill-lodged, ill-fed, ill-used, hocussed, entrapped, anticipated, cleaned out. 

From The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens

"But you see we are not quite such fools as we look; and we have heard of such a thing, in our time, as hocussed wine."

From A Rogue's Life by Wilkie Collins

The horses he had "nobbled," the jockeys "squared," the owners "hocussed," were legion.

From Davenport Dunn, Volume 1 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Charles James Lever

Since the time when Boer spies hocussed him on guard—you remember that lovely affair?—he's registered a vow to impress me with his gallantry and devotion, or die in the attempt.

From The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan

"The operation—combining equal parts of hocussing, overcharging, and direct robbery—and facetiously christened by bush landlords `lambing down.'"

From Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris

Then he became absorbed in steering, and sternly rejected all further consideration of his gift; he would have neither hand nor part in hocussing French agriculturalists posing as mariners.

From The Admirable Tinker Child of the World by Edgar Jepson

There is no chance of hocussing a horse, or laming him, or bribing a stable boy, or squaring a jockey.

From Hard Pressed by Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White

The fortune-tellers have been consulted about them; dreamers have dreamed the winners; and many an underhand attempt, sometimes including the hocussing of men or horses, has been made to corrupt the sport.

From Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul by T. G. (Thomas George) Tucker

The Doctor espoused the moral hocussing system, and Feargus took up the bludgeon for physical force.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 13, 1841 by Various

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