jiggery-pokery

American  

[jig-uh-ree-poh-kuh-ree] / ˈdʒɪg ə riˈpoʊ kə ri /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. trickery, hocus-pocus; fraud; humbug.

2. sly, underhanded action.

3. manipulation.

   After a little jiggery-pokery, the engine started.

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jiggery-pokery British  

/ ˈdʒɪɡərɪˈpəʊkərɪ /

noun

1. informal dishonest or deceitful behaviour or business; trickery

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Etymology

Origin of jiggery-pokery

1890–95; alteration of joukery-pawkery. See jouk, pawky, -ery

Example Sentences

"It makes extinction sound like something that’s solvable through scientific jiggery-pokery, an error that can be fixed without the arduous, inconvenient lengths that human beings need to go to to prevent extinctions happening."

From Salon

In the scathing dissent, Scalia also said the majority decision was “interpretive jiggery-pokery,” a “defense of the indefensible” and “pure applesauce.”

From Washington Post

More plausible accounts of jiggery-pokery came from opposition members of local election commissions, including one in the Moscow district of Ramenki, who reported a suspicious surge in undocumented voting from home.

From New York Times

Roper said: “He’s got to play the game that’s going about. It’s reflective of the state of politics and the jiggery-pokery that’s been done.”

From The Guardian

But his style was different, beholden to an overarching legal philosophy, and also more flamboyant, scathing, and dependent on eccentric word choices: “argle-bargle,” “jiggery-pokery.”

From The New Yorker