noun

• 1the hokey-pokeyUS A group dance performed in a circle with a synchronized shaking of the limbs in turn, accompanied by a simple song.

  British term hokey-cokey

  ‘I'm the typical American white guy, so watching me dance is like seeing the Pillsbury Doughboy doing the hokey-pokey.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘We learn the hokey pokey when we're kids and as we become adults, we learn the latest crazes.’
  • ‘Try dancing with your children. Do the Hokey Pokey, the bunny hop and such.’
  • ‘It's the only hospital with a built-in bar, but surely having some kind of entertainment that doesn't involve game shows and the weekly hokey-pokey is a good idea whose time has come.’
  • ‘And then Zeek looked at me with his lovely lagoon eyes, and just as I was about to accept, I remembered that the only dance I could dance was the hokey-pokey.’

• 2US informal Deception; trickery.

  More example sentences

  • ‘There was something kind of psychic about him, almost supernatural, and it was no surprise when I found out he was into that hokey-pokey and read a lot about magic and mysticism.’

• 3Trademark Ice cream of a kind formerly sold on the street, especially by Italian street vendors.

  More example sentences

  • ‘she got me a double cone of hokey-pokey’