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Glite Dictionary
🎩 A trick 🎩 To trick 🪄 Magic word
hocus

hocus

9.9
A short word magicians say during a magic trick
  • interjection
  • /ˈhoʊkəs/
  • Informal
translation icon : abracadabra
  • With a flash and a flick, the magician shouted hocus and made the rabbit vanish.

Examples

  • If you say hocus pocus, Hocus pocus, that just sounds like such a playful like wish.

  • The audience gasped when the performer exclaimed hocus as the final trick unfolded.

  • Oh, girl, just one half do the hocus pocus thing.

  • And yeah, like, I think we all need to start realizing this is not like hocus pocus magic.

  • Watch closely as I wave my wand and say hocus to make the card disappear!

Synonyms

hocus-pocus
vshocus
9 8.1

Words or actions that trick people by seeming magical

is an exclamation said in a staged trick rather than as a deceptive action
abracadabra
vshocus
6 8.5

A word magicians say during a trick to show magic

is used when pretending to perform a trick rather than during real conjuring

Compounds

hocus-pocus
9 8.1

Words or actions that trick people by seeming magical

Surface Forms

hocus main

Etymology

Hocus comes from the old magic phrase hocus pocus, and one idea is that magicians copied the Latin words hoc est corpus 'this is the body' because they sounded mysterious. A helpful way to remember hocus is that magicians used it as a short, loud shout, so it became an exclamation in magic shows.