hocus

• POS: Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: ho=cus

CIDE DICTIONARY

hocus, v. t. [See Hocus-pocus.].

•  To deceive or cheat.  Halliwell.  [1913 Webster]
•  To adulterate; to drug; as, liquor is said to be hocused for the purpose of stupefying the drinker.  Dickens.  [1913 Webster]
•  To stupefy with drugged liquor.  Thackeray.  [1913 Webster]

hocus, n. 

•  One who cheats or deceives.  South.  [1913 Webster]
•  Drugged liquor.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hocus, v.tr. (hocussed, hocussing; US hocused, hocusing)
1 take in; hoax.
2 stupefy (a person) with drugs.
3 drug (liquor).

Etymology

obs. noun hocus = HOCUS-POCUS

ROGET THESAURUS

hocus

Deception

N deception, falseness, untruth, imposition, imposture, fraud, deceit, guile, fraudulence, fraudulency, covin, knavery, misrepresentation, bluff, straw-bail, straw bid, spoof, delusion, gullery, juggling, jugglery, slight of hand, legerdemain, prestigiation, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, conjuration, hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship, trickery, coggery, chicanery, supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion, treachery, practical joke, trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite, card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck, artful dodge, swindle, tricks upon travelers, stratagem, confidence trick, fake, hoax, theft, ballot-box stuffing, barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game, shell game, thimblerig, skin game, snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin, springe, springle, noose, hoot, bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens, cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime, dionaea, Venus's flytrap, ambush, trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom, spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery, mine, flytrap, green goods, panel house, Cornish hug, wolf in sheep's clothing, disguise, disguisement, false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes, pattes de velours, mockery, copy, counterfeit, sham, make- believe, forgery, fraud, lie, a delusion a mockery and a snare, hollow mockery, whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher, tinsel, paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels, scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint, veneer, jerry building, man of straw, illusion, ignis fatuus, mirage, deceived, deceiving, cunning, prestigious, prestigiatory, deceptive, deceptious, deceitful, covinous, delusive, delusory, illusive, illusory, elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus, untrue, mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard, surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated, unsound, rotten at the core, colorable, disguised, meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated, catchpenny, Brummagem, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, simulated, under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of, over the left, keep the word of promise to the ear and break it t, fronti nulla fides, ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, a quicksand of deceit, decipimur specie recti, falsi crimen, fraus est celare fraudem, lupus in fabula, so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue.

VB deceive, take in, defraud, cheat, jockey, do, cozen, diddle, nab, chouse, play one false, bilk, cully, jilt, bite, pluck, swindle, victimize, abuse, mystify, blind one's eyes, blindfold, hoodwink, throw dust into the eyes, dupe, gull, hoax, fool, befool, bamboozle, flimflam, hornswoggle, trick, impose upon, practice upon, play upon, put upon, palm off on, palm upon, foist upon, snatch a verdict, bluff off, bluff, bunko, four flush, gum, spoof, stuff (a ballot box), circumvent, overreach, outreach, out wit, out maneuver, steal a march upon, give the go-by, to leave in the lurch decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle, entrap, intrap, ensnare, nick, springe, set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for, bait the hook, forelay, spread the toils, lime, trapan, trepan, kidnap, let in, hook in, nousle, nousel, blind a trail, enmesh, immesh, shanghai, catch, catch in a trap, sniggle, entangle, illaqueate, hocus, escamoter, practice on one's credulity, hum, humbug, gammon, stuff up, sell, play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on, balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale, fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand, make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of, make an ass of, trifle with, cajole, flatter, come over, gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon, dissemble, cog, cog the dice, load the dice, stack the deck, live by one's wits, play at hide and seek, obtain money under false pretenses, conjure, juggle, practice chicanery, deacon, play off, palm off, foist off, fob-off, lie, misinform, mislead, betray, be deceived.