Hokes

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Artificially contrives or exaggerates something, usually a story or performance, to make it seem more sentimental or dramatic than it really is
2. Adds forced, cheesy sentiment or staged drama to something so that it feels fake and overwrought
3. Gives a show, story or effect a contrived, corny quality by piling on sentimental or theatrical touches

Etymology: "Hokes" is the plural of "hoke," a word with two unrelated histories that happen to share a spelling. The older sense comes from Old English "hōc," meaning a hook, which passed into Middle English as "hoke." The newer, and far more common, sense is a dodge or trick, which is probably a shortening of "hokum," the nonsense talk of stage performers and later the theatrical humbug of the American vaudeville and show-business world. Dictionaries also link the word to "holk," a hollow cavity, and to the Scots "howk," meaning to dig, which is where the notion of scooping out or hollowing may come in. Because the plural form is "hokes," the forms follow whichever sense is meant: a plural of the hook sense or of the trick sense, both of which take a simple "-s."

Synonyms: ham