Someone who cheats or deceives other people: It took a long time, but the police finally caught up with Tommy, the hocus, who had been accessing people's credit card information at the restaurant where he worked and spending their money for his own desires.

1. To fool or to deceive: Some people claim that their government is hocusing and cheating them of their retirements.
2. To infuse or adulterate (food or drink) with a drug; to stupefy with drugged liquor: Roy hocused the drinks of some of his guests because he wanted to stupefy them out of revenge for what they said about him at work.

A phrase that is used as a recitation that is supposed to present a magic act or spell: James Jones often used the words hocus-pocus when he was entertaining people with his slight-of-hand or so-called magical presentations at the night club.

1. Words without meaning or a phrase used to draw attention away from and to disguise what is really happening: Lucinda accused her psychologist of using a lot of hocus-pocus to make her think that she was playing games with herself.
2. A trick performed by a magician or juggler; a sleight of hand: The abracadabra and hocus-pocus words are used to draw the attention of viewers to what the performer is about to present.
3. A term used especially to promise something with deception or dishonest methods that are used to trick people: The politician misled voters with his political hocus-pocus of promising lower taxes and higher wages for workers.
4. Etymology: there is no real proof that hocus-pocus is a blasphemous corruption of the first words of the consecration in the Catholic Mass, Hoc est corpus, "This is the body"; but there are those who believe that the term is simply what the Oxford Dictionary calls a "sham (fraud) Latin" phrase invented by a magician to distract the audience while working his legerdemain or sleight of hand and to show his skill or deceitful cleverness.

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