HOCUS

pocus n. 1 trickery, chicanery, deceit, deception, artifice, cheat, duplicity, mischief, hoax, humbug, trick, swindle, pretence, Colloq con (game), jiggery-pokery, flimflam, hanky-panky He tried some hocus-pocus on the company books but was caught 2 mumbo-jumbo, abracadabra, incantation, nonsense, rigmarole, gibberish, Colloq gobbledegook The medicine man muttered some hocus-pocus over the body, which began to rise into the air 3 sleight of hand, legerdemain, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, jugglery From the earliest days religion has had its share of hocus-pocus