noun🎓 English idiom

hocus-pocus

magical incantation or meaningless nonsense

What it means

Hocus-pocus refers to the mock-magic words spoken by stage magicians and, by extension, to any talk or activity meant to deceive or distract. It often implies that something dressed up as serious or impressive is actually empty or fraudulent.

Examples

  • The magician waved his wand and shouted hocus-pocus.
  • Their financial report was just hocus-pocus to hide the losses.
  • I don't believe in any of that astrology hocus-pocus.
  • With a bit of hocus-pocus, he made the coin disappear.

Where it comes from

First recorded in the early 1600s as the name of a stage conjurer. Likely a pseudo-Latin phrase mocking the Catholic Mass's 'hoc est corpus' ('this is the body').

Related idioms

#mumbo-jumbo#wishy-washy#hodge-podge#mish-mash

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