subs. phr. (old cant).A juggler; also a shifty fellow or trickster.
1676. SHADWELL, The Virtuoso, ii., p. 19. I shall stand here till one of them has whipt away my Mistris about business, with a HIXIUS DOXIUS, with the force of Repartee, and this, and that, and Everything in the world.
1678. BUTLER, Hudibras, iii., 3, 579.
At Westminster, and Hickses-Hall, | |
And HICCIUS DOCKIUS playd in all. |
1688. WYCHERLEY, The Country Wife, iii. That burlesque is a Hocus-pocus trick they have got, which by the virtue of HICTIUS DOCTIUS, topsey-turvey, etc.
1812. JOHNSON, English Dictionary, s.v. HICCIUS DOCCIUS a cant word for juggler; one that plays fast and loose.
1733. R. NORTH, Examen, i., 3, 137 (1740). The author with his HICCIUS-DOXIUS delivery.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. HICKSIUS DOXIUS. Drunk.