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单词 hocus-pocus
释义

Definition of hocus-pocus in English:

hocus-pocus

noun həʊkəsˈpəʊkəsˌhoʊkəsˈpoʊkəs
mass noun
  • 1Meaningless talk or activity, typically designed to trick someone or conceal the truth of a situation.

    some people still view psychology as a lot of hocus-pocus
    Example sentencesExamples
    • And if the virtual world is broad, it obviously isn't broad enough to enable one to escape from this kind of corporate hocus-pocus.
    • As he puts it, ‘There is always a conundrum, a mystery and hocus-pocus in an established religion.’
    • More evidence of religious hocus-pocus over substance?
    • He never offers specifics; it's all hocus-pocus.
    • I like the simple, durable types that have manual controls - no electronic hocus-pocuses.
    • By the dawn of the Scientific Revolution, researchers equipped with microscopes founded modern chemistry - and dismissed alchemy as hocus-pocus.
    • His bill not only includes some $400 million a year in direct subsidies, but it also attempts to bamboozle us with linguistic hocus-pocus, simply defining away the industry's environmental ugliness.
    • For secrets on the technical hocus-pocus, go with the two production commentaries.
    • He recalled that his father suffered greatly because people misunderstood what he did for black magic or some other hocus-pocus.
    • No statistical hocus-pocus can hide this real-life, greed-induced assault on our country's middle class.
    • And no amount of organic industry hocus-pocus can make that truth disappear.
    • In the healing story that Mark tells, things are even more ordinary: a simple question, a brief response, no hocus-pocus.
    • Of course, after all the reports of financial hocus-pocus, investors are understandably wary of earnings figures being put out by corporations.
    • Yet while most mind-reading acts wrap their shows up in a cloak of hocus-pocus, Salem portrays his mind games as science.
    • Without these other figures, the rest is hocus-pocus.
    • But everything else in this ‘investigation’ is not much more than editorial hocus-pocus.
    • The operation behind the printing of those statements is a show of such technological hocus-pocus that it is distracting.
    Synonyms
    jargon, unintelligible language, obscure language, mumbo jumbo, argle-bargle, gibberish, balderdash, claptrap, nonsense, rubbish, twaddle
    informal gobbledegook, double Dutch, hokum, bull, rot, garbage, tripe
    North American informal flapdoodle
    informal, dated bunkum
    1. 1.1 A form of words used by a person performing conjuring tricks.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • ‘Maybe you'd prefer abracadabra hocus-pocus,’ said Madi nastily, and the room was filled with pretty multicoloured sparkles which eventually faded away.
      • Abracadabra, Abraxas and Hocus Pocus are well-known examples of verbal spells.
      • Up to that point it was all potions and hocus-pocus.
      • The power of magick is not just hocus-pocus, a wiggle of a rat, and a curse with a bat.
      • She reads a simple incantation, and before anyone can say "Hocus Pocus!" or twitch a nose all three girls are changed.
      • The Spencers would be the first to say that it takes more than a magic wand and a couple of hocus-pocuses to help people feel better about themselves.
      Synonyms
      magic words, magic formula, mumbo jumbo, abracadabra, incantation, chant, invocation, charm
    2. 1.2US Deception; trickery.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • As I've already said, there are lots of people who are sceptical about psychics, and think that's it's just hocus-pocus.
      • There is no hocus-pocus, no aggressive posturing or screaming for effect.
      • One is simply another name for psychic healing and involves none of the fake hocus-pocus of the other.
      • Our most beloved hocus-pocus of all is the idea that economic growth will rescue us from all our troubles - but last fall the economy grew 8 percent without creating any new jobs to speak of.

Origin

Early 17th century: from hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used as a magic formula by conjurors.

  • hanky-panky from mid 19th century:

    People have been talking in disapproving terms of hanky-panky since the 1830s. Then it tended to mean ‘trickery’ or ‘dishonest behaviour’, whereas since the 1930s it has mainly referred to sexual indiscretions. The word is possibly an alteration of hocus-pocus, which was said by conjurors as they performed their tricks, rather like ‘abracadabra!’. This appeared in the early 17th century based on a pseudo-Latin phrase hax pax max Deus adimax used by conjurors as a magic formula. Hoax (late 18th century) may be a shortening of hocus-pocus.

Rhymes

Archilochus, Cocos, crocus, focus, hocus, locus
 
 

Definition of hocus-pocus in US English:

hocus-pocus

nounˌhōkəsˈpōkəsˌhoʊkəsˈpoʊkəs
  • 1Meaningless talk or activity, often designed to draw attention away from and disguise what is actually happening.

    some people still view psychology as a lot of hocus-pocus
    Example sentencesExamples
    • His bill not only includes some $400 million a year in direct subsidies, but it also attempts to bamboozle us with linguistic hocus-pocus, simply defining away the industry's environmental ugliness.
    • Yet while most mind-reading acts wrap their shows up in a cloak of hocus-pocus, Salem portrays his mind games as science.
    • The operation behind the printing of those statements is a show of such technological hocus-pocus that it is distracting.
    • But everything else in this ‘investigation’ is not much more than editorial hocus-pocus.
    • For secrets on the technical hocus-pocus, go with the two production commentaries.
    • And no amount of organic industry hocus-pocus can make that truth disappear.
    • No statistical hocus-pocus can hide this real-life, greed-induced assault on our country's middle class.
    • As he puts it, ‘There is always a conundrum, a mystery and hocus-pocus in an established religion.’
    • I like the simple, durable types that have manual controls - no electronic hocus-pocuses.
    • More evidence of religious hocus-pocus over substance?
    • He recalled that his father suffered greatly because people misunderstood what he did for black magic or some other hocus-pocus.
    • By the dawn of the Scientific Revolution, researchers equipped with microscopes founded modern chemistry - and dismissed alchemy as hocus-pocus.
    • Of course, after all the reports of financial hocus-pocus, investors are understandably wary of earnings figures being put out by corporations.
    • And if the virtual world is broad, it obviously isn't broad enough to enable one to escape from this kind of corporate hocus-pocus.
    • In the healing story that Mark tells, things are even more ordinary: a simple question, a brief response, no hocus-pocus.
    • Without these other figures, the rest is hocus-pocus.
    • He never offers specifics; it's all hocus-pocus.
    Synonyms
    jargon, unintelligible language, obscure language, mumbo jumbo, argle-bargle, gibberish, balderdash, claptrap, nonsense, rubbish, twaddle
    1. 1.1 A form of words often used by a person performing magic tricks.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • She reads a simple incantation, and before anyone can say "Hocus Pocus!" or twitch a nose all three girls are changed.
      • Abracadabra, Abraxas and Hocus Pocus are well-known examples of verbal spells.
      • Up to that point it was all potions and hocus-pocus.
      • The Spencers would be the first to say that it takes more than a magic wand and a couple of hocus-pocuses to help people feel better about themselves.
      • ‘Maybe you'd prefer abracadabra hocus-pocus,’ said Madi nastily, and the room was filled with pretty multicoloured sparkles which eventually faded away.
      • The power of magick is not just hocus-pocus, a wiggle of a rat, and a curse with a bat.
      Synonyms
      magic words, magic formula, mumbo jumbo, abracadabra, incantation, chant, invocation, charm
    2. 1.2US Deception; trickery.
      Example sentencesExamples
      • One is simply another name for psychic healing and involves none of the fake hocus-pocus of the other.
      • As I've already said, there are lots of people who are sceptical about psychics, and think that's it's just hocus-pocus.
      • Our most beloved hocus-pocus of all is the idea that economic growth will rescue us from all our troubles - but last fall the economy grew 8 percent without creating any new jobs to speak of.
      • There is no hocus-pocus, no aggressive posturing or screaming for effect.

Origin

Early 17th century: from hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used as a magic formula by conjurors.

 
 
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更新时间:2024/12/26 9:57:10