hoax

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a deliberately fabricated story, warning, or event intended to deceive people

   The supposed discovery was exposed as a hoax within a day.

2. 2
   verb

   to deceive someone with a fabricated story or practical joke

   The caller hoaxed the newspaper into reporting an imaginary incident.

Recorded in the late eighteenth century, probably as a shortening or alteration of hocus, the magician's cry in hocus-pocus. Its deeper origin is uncertain. The noun first referred to a trick or deception; the verb developed directly from it.

Topics