- gipsy words of magic, similar to the modern “presto fly.” The gipsies pronounce “_Habeas Corpus_,” HAWCUS PACCUS (_see_ Crabb’s _Gipsies’ Advocate_, p. 18); can this have anything to do with the origin of HOCUS POCUS? Turner gives OCHUS BOCHUS, an old demon. Pegge, however, states that it is a burlesque rendering of the words of the Roman Catholic Church service at the delivery of the host, HOC EST CORPUS, which the early Protestants considered as a species of conjuring, and ridiculed accordingly.
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Position in the dictionary: 1666 of 4022 slang words.Next words in the dictionary: hodge, hog, hoga, hogmagundy, hogmany night, hogo, hoisting, hold hard, hollow, holy joe
Previous words in the dictionary: hocus, hocks, hock-dockies, hobson’s choice, hobbled, hobble, hobbadehoy, hob collingwood, hob and nob, hoax