Meanings
hokey pokey1
plural hokey pokeys
- alternativeuncountableusuallyAlternative spelling of Hokey Pokey (“dance”).
- New ZealanduncountableusuallyA confection made from golden syrup, white sugar, and baking soda; honeycomb toffee
Synonyms: honeycomb toffee, honeycomb, cinder toffee, sponge toffee, seafoam candy
- AustraliaNew ZealanduncountableusuallyVanilla ice cream with small pieces of honeycomb toffee.
Hokey Pokey2
alternative hokey pokey · alternative hokey-pokey · alternative hokeypokey
- AustraliaCanadaUSpreceded by definite articleA group dance performed in a circle, in which people move a variety of their body parts in and out of the middle, and shake them about.
So he choreographs each event depending on the crowd, starting with something to learn the drill, like “Marching Through Georgia,” working in something to loosen people up like the hokeypokey, and probably a contra dance (long lines, not squares) like the Virginia reel.
2008 June 19, Peter Applebome, “At 91, He Isn’t Ready for the Last Dance Just Yet”, in New York TimesSynonyms: Hokey Cokey, hokey tokey
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA confection made from golden syrup, white sugar, and baking soda; honeycomb toffee
nounA group dance performed in a circle, in which people move a variety of their body parts in and out of the middle, and shake them about.
Origin
Unknown, compare the earlier-attested names for similar group circle dances from which the modern dance seems to have evolved, hinkumbooby from the 19th century and hankin booby from the 16th.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hokey pokey
Cite this entry
hokey pokey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hokey%20pokey
“hokey pokey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hokey%20pokey. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hokey pokey,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hokey%20pokey.
Source: hokey pokey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.