| 释义 |
▪ I. hocus-pocus, n. (a., adv.)|ˈhəʊkəs ˈpəʊkəs|
Also 7 hocas pocas, hokos pokos, hokus pokus.
[Appears early in 17th c., as the appellation of a juggler (and, apparently, as the assumed name of a particular conjuror) derived from the sham Latin formula employed by him: see below, and cf. Grimm, Hokuspokus.
The notion that hocus pocus was a parody of the Latin words used in the Eucharist, rests merely on a conjecture thrown out by Tillotson: see below.
1655Ady Candle in Dark 29, I will speak of one man..that went about in King James his time..who called himself, The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus, and so was called, because that at the playing of every Trick, he used to say, Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo, a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders, to make his Trick pass the more currantly without discovery. a1694Tillotson Serm. xxvi. (1742) II. 237 In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation.]
†1. A conjuror, juggler. (In 17th c. freq. as proper name or nickname of a conjuror.) Also transf. a trickster. Obs.
1624Gee New Shreds Old Snare 21, I alwayes thought they had their rudiments from some iugling Hocas Pocas in a quart pot. 1625B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 388/2 Iniquity came in like Hokos Pokos, in a Iuglers ierkin, with false skirts. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 55 A Persian Hocus-pocus..performed rare trickes with hands and feet. 1648C. Walker Relat. & Observ. 12 This labyrinth into which these unpolitick Hocas Pocasses have brought us. 1650H. More Observ. Anima Magica in Enthus. Tri. (1656) 117 He opens as Hokus Pokus do's his fists, where we see that here is nothing and there is nothing. 1680Hickeringill Meroz 26 He shall now..play as many tricks as Hocus Pocus at a fair. 17..Tollet in Johnson Shaks. Plays, 1 Hen. IV, v. v. (Jod.), I incline to call him hocus-pocus, or some juggler, or attendant upon the master of the hobbyhorse.
†b. to play hocus-pocus, to play the juggler, to juggle. Obs.
1659Lond. Chanticl. ix. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 343 Thou hast played hocus-pocus with me, I think. 1737Bentley Free Thinking §12 (R.) Our author is playing hocus pocus in the very similitude he takes from that jugler.
2. Used as a formula of conjuring or magical incantation. (Sometimes with allusion to an assumed derivation from hoc est corpus: see etymology above.)
1632Randolph Jealous Lov. i. x, Hocus-pocus, here you shall have me, and there you shall have me! 1656Hobbes Lib. Necess. & Chance (1841) 384 This term of insufficient cause..is not intelligible, but a word devised like hocus pocus, to juggle a difficulty out of sight. 1772Fletcher Logica Genev. 201 The hocus pocus of a popish priest cannot turn bread into flesh. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. i. Court-yard, The Priests..began to mutter their hocus-pocus. 1886Mallock Old Order Changes II. 47 This man, who only an hour ago was muttering hocus pocus, in the dress of a mediæval conjuror.
3. A juggler's trick; conjuring, jugglery; sleight of hand; a method of bringing something about as if by magic; trickery, deception.
1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxiv. (1739) 135 Thus this Statute became like a Hocus Pocus, a thing to still the people for the present, and serve the King's turn. 1678Marvell Growth Popery 28 The same opportunities that others had of practising the Hocus Pocus of the Face, of Playing the French Scaramuccie. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 447/1 The Art of Leger De Main or Jugling, otherwise called Hocus Pocus. 1774Westm. Mag. II. 449 There hath been a mystery, a hocus-pocus, in all Religions, since the days of the Egyptians to those of the American Indians. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes xii, The vagabond arts of sleight-of-hand, and hocus-pocus. 1843W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1866) III. 300 These insurgent legions..which, by the sudden hocus pocus of political affairs, are transformed into loyal soldiers.
†4. A bag or ‘poke’ used by jugglers. Obs. rare.
c1640[Shirley] Capt. Underwit ii. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 342 His very fingers cryed ‘give me the gold!’ which..he put in his hocas pocas, a little dormer under his right skirt.
B.
1. attrib. or adj. Juggling; cheating, tricky.
1668R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 117 Hocus Pocus Tricks are call'd Slight of Hand. 1698–1700E. Ward Lond. Spy in Ashton Soc. Life Q. Anne (1882) II. 94 By virtue of this Hocus Pocus Stratagem he had conjur'd all the ill blood out of my Body. 1773Macklin Love à la Mode ii. i, The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science. 1785Span. Rivals 9 He looks rather hocus pocus, as a body may say. 1841E. Miall in Nonconf. I. 305 A sort of hocus-pocus use of the word ‘church’.
2. as adv.
1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 24 To joke us, Great Southey performs all his flights Hocus Pocus.
▪ II. hocus-pocus, v.
[f. prec.]
1. intr. To act the conjuror, juggle; to play tricks, practise deception.
1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 18, I never lov'd the Hocus-Pocussing of Hoc est Corpus Meum. a1704― (J.), This gift of hocus pocussing, and of disguising matters, is surprizing. 1838Fraser's Mag. XVIII. 157 So Talleyrand hocus-pocused in politics..nothing but political legerdemain. 1855A. Manning Old Chelsea Bun-ho. xiii. 212, I..showed them some simple Hocus-pocussing.
2. trans. To play tricks upon; to transform as if by jugglery.
1774Westm. Mag. II. 375 But, hocus'd-pocus'd All, with so much art! 1808Miss-led General 30 Before Frederic was two years old..he was hocus-pocus'd, alias, metamorphosed, into a Bishop. 1892Nation (N.Y.) 28 Apr. 317/1 So commonly is the law hocus-pocussed by the local boards before whom the new voters are made. |