1725–29. Mason, Horace, iv., 8. Such hocus-pocus tricks, I own, Belong to Gallic bards alone.
1759. Macklin, Love à la Mode, ii., 1. The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science that smiles in yer face while it picks your pocket.
Verb (old).—To cheat; to trick.
Hod (or Brother Hod), subs. (common).—A bricklayer’s labourer.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Hod of Mortar, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A pot of porter.
Hoddy-Doddy (or Hoddie-doddie), subs. (old).—A short thick-set man or woman. The full expression is ‘Hoddy Doddy, all arse and no body.’—Grose. For synonyms, see Forty-guts. Also a fool.
c. 1534. Udall, Roister Doister, i., I. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, iii., 58). Sometimes I hang on Hankyn hoddy-doddy’s sleeve.
1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv., 8. Well, good wife bawd, Cob’s wife, and you, That make your husband such a hoddy-doddy.