English

Verb

hocus ‎(third-person singular simple present hocuses or hocusses, present participle hocusing or hocussing, simple past and past participle hocused or hocussed)

1. To play a trick on; hoax; cheat.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

2. To stupefy with drugged liquor.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 5, in The Hocussing of Cigarette:

     Then I had a good think on the subject of the hocussing of Cigarette, and I was reluctantly bound to admit that once again the man in the corner had found the only possible solution to the mystery.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Thackeray to this entry?)

3. To adulterate; to drug (liquor).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

Noun

hocus ‎(plural hocuses)

1. One who cheats or deceives.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)

2. drugged liquor

See also

• hocus-pocus