hocus
だます / ごまかす
解説 Definition
hocus は「だます」「ごまかす」という意味で使われる古風な語です。単独では現代英語であまり一般的ではなく、関連表現の中で見かけることが多いです。
Hocus is an old-fashioned transitive verb meaning to deceive, trick, or confuse someone, especially through misleading talk or a dishonest display. It is rare in modern everyday English.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
hocus は現代ではまれな古風な動詞で、例文の hocus the crowd のように「人をだます、ごまかす」と他動詞で使います。よく知られた hocus-pocus「手品の呪文、もっともらしいごまかし」の前半と結び付け、巧みな話や不明瞭な価格で相手の判断を惑わせる場面を思い浮かべましょう。日常会話なら deceive や trick が普通です。
Treat hocus as the rare verb hidden inside the much more familiar expression hocus-pocus. A magician’s distracting words and movements provide the central image: while the audience watches the display, someone may be deceived or confused. In older usage, a cheat could hocus a crowd with a false story. The verb is transitive, so it normally takes the person being deceived as its object. Because hocus sounds distinctly old-fashioned today, use trick, deceive, or mislead in ordinary conversation, but recognize hocus in historical, literary, or deliberately playful writing.
例文
The cheat tried to hocus the crowd with a false story.
その詐欺師は作り話で群衆をだまそうとしました。
Do not hocus the customers with unclear prices.
わかりにくい価格で客をごまかしてはいけません。
He used smooth words to hocus his partners.
彼は巧みな言葉で仲間をだましました。
hocus の類義語・関連語
派生語
紛らわしい語
hocus の語源・成り立ち Etymology
hocus-pocus の短縮形で、17世紀の手品師の呪文めいた掛け声から出た語。語源は確定しないが、ラテン語 Hoc est corpus meum をもじった説が有力で、だから「ごまかし・だます」の意味へつながる。関連語は hocus-pocus、hokum。
Hocus is a shortened form derived from hocus-pocus, an expression recorded in the seventeenth century as mock magical language used by performers. Its ultimate origin is uncertain. A frequently repeated proposal connects it with a distorted form of the Latin phrase hoc est corpus meum, but this explanation has not been proved. From its association with conjuring and deceptive performance, hocus developed the verb sense “to cheat, trick, or bewilder.”
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