Could You Pass The SAT? Test Yourself!

hokey-pokey

[ hoh-kee-poh-kee ]
/ ˈhoʊ kiˈpoʊ ki /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR hokey-pokey ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

hocus-pocus; trickery.
Often Hokey-Pokey. a dance performed in a circle, or a song describing the simple movements of the dance.
ice cream as formerly sold by street vendors.
New Zealand. a toffee-flavored candy or ice cream popular in New Zealand.

Trademark.

Hokey-Pokey. a brand of white chocolate ice cream with honeycomb and caramel.

QUIZZES

CAN YOU ACE THIS QUIZ ABOUT “COMPLIMENT” VS. “COMPLEMENT”?

Take this quiz to see if you really know the difference between “compliment” and “complement"!
Question 1 of 11
“Compliment” and “complement” had a shared meaning a long time ago, but today they are no longer interchangeable.
True
False
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of hokey-pokey

First recorded in 1840–50; variant of hocus-pocus

Words nearby hokey-pokey

hoka, hokan, hoke, hokey, hokey cokey, hokey-pokey, hoki, hokiang, hokinson, hokkaido, hokku
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to hokey-pokey

absurdity, disobedience, foolishness, hanky-panky, horseplay, inanity, insanity, lunacy, misbehavior, mischief, monkeyshine, nonsense, poppycock, prank, silliness, stupidity, craziness, tommyrot, absurdness, antics

Example sentences from the Web for hokey-pokey

  • Hot gauffrette and hokey-pokey venders are always near at hand.

    Paris Vistas|Helen Davenport Gibbons

  • Here is the poorer Italian colony; organ-grinders, ice-cream-barrow-men, "hokey-pokey" sellers, and their like.

    Highways and Byways in London|Mrs. E. T. Cook.

  • They both laughed, feeling like mischievous children who had played a successful trick on the hokey-pokey man.

    The Lion and The Mouse|Charles Klein

  • I didn't notice anything except a hokey-pokey seller, adding his mite to the infant mortality of the district.

    The Clarion|Samuel Hopkins Adams

British Dictionary definitions for hokey-pokey

hokey-pokey
/ (ˌhəʊkɪˈpəʊkɪ) /

noun

another word for hocus-pocus (def. 1), hocus-pocus (def. 2)
NZ a brittle toffee sold in lumps
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012