obeah
Americannoun
-
a form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, South America, the southern U.S., and Africa.
-
a fetish or charm used in practicing obeah.
noun
Etymology
Origin of obeah
1750–60; compare Gullah, Jamaican English, Guyanan English, Sranan óbia magic, charm; < a West African language, though precise source unclear; compare Twi ɔ-bayifó sorcerer (compound with -fo person), Igbo díbìà folk healer (compound with dí- expert in)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The magical systems evoked in much of this folklore, like obeah, have their roots in African religious and spiritual practices.
From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2021
In one scene, a group of pallbearers carries a coffin from door to door so that the obeah, or medicine man, can ask if someone in the house was involved in the death.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus, there gathered a loud convocation of such of our number as claim familiarity with appropriate rites of burial—a meeting of palaver-men, Christian New Lights, obeah priests, and new-made cunning-workers.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
There, already recovered from the blow which would have killed a man ten times over, he saw the obeah snarling after him.
From Darkness and Dawn by England, George Allan
But the obeah, with a whining plaint, spat away his tobacco-leaf.
From Darkness and Dawn by England, George Allan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
