hocus

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   dated: to trick, cheat, or deceive someone

   The woman suspected that Huck was trying to hocus her with another false name.

2. 2
   verb

   historical: to stupefy someone with drugged liquor, or to put a drug into liquor

   The thieves planned to hocus the traveler before taking his purse.

3. 3
   verb

   rare: to adulterate food or drink

   Inspectors discovered that the dealer had hocussed the flour with cheap filler.

Shortened from hocus-pocus, an imitation-Latin formula associated with jugglers and trickery. The verb moved from deceiving by a trick to drugging a victim's drink and adulterating goods.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images