Hocus Pocus

"Jiggery pokery! Hocus pocus...squiggly wiggly..."

- Harry Potter frightens Dudley Dursley in 1992

Hocus pocus was one of three pretend spells that Harry Potter used to frighten away his Muggle cousin Dudley Dursley in 1992.

Etymology
Hocus pocus, like abracadabra, is a magic word commonly used by magicians, typically when they perform an illusion. In British English, hocus pocus is also a general term meaning "contrived nonsense," similar to rubbish, hogwash, or baloney. The origins of the term are unknown, but John Tillotson, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694, theorised that it might have arisen as a mockery of the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Mass, which features the Latin phrase Hoc est corpus meum ("This is my body").

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets