Hocus pocus (magic) derived from the Protoslavic word "kusiti", which is itself derived from Gothic "kausajn" meaning "to try", "to attempt". This may indicate that the wording belongs to the alchemy kitchen and court of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552 – 1612). Also, "hocus" may mean "to cheat" in Latin or a distorted form of the word "hoc", "this". Combination of the two words may give a sense, especially both meanings together "this attempt/experiment" and "cheated attempt/experiment". According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term originates from "hax pax max Deus adimax", a pseudo-Latin phrase used as a magical formula by conjurors.
Referring expression Other types of reference recognized by linguists include "indefinite" as opposed to "definite reference", and "collective" and "distributive reference". Definite referring expressions refer to an identifiable individual or class ("The Dalai Lama"; "The Coldstream Guards"; "the student with the highest marks"), whilst indefinite referring expressions allow latitude in identifying the referent ("a corrupt Member of Parliament"; "a cat with black ears"—where "a" is to be interpreted as 'any' or 'some actual but unspecified'). Collective reference is the picking out of the members of a set as a set, whilst distributive reference is the picking out of the members of a