hokey-pokey
[ hoh-kee-poh-kee ]
/ ˈhoʊ kiˈpoʊ ki /
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
DISCOVER THE INFLUENCE OF PORTUGUESE ON ENGLISH VIA THIS QUIZ!
We’ve gathered some interesting words donated to English from Portuguese … as well as some that just don’t translate at all. Do you know what they mean?
Question 1 of 11
Which of the following animal names traces its immediate origin to Portuguese?
Origin of hokey-pokey
First recorded in 1840–50; variant of hocus-pocus
Words nearby hokey-pokey
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for hokey-pokey
Hot gauffrette and hokey-pokey venders are always near at hand.
Paris Vistas|Helen Davenport GibbonsHere 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 KleinI 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
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