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amulet

[am-yuh-lit]
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noun
  1. a small object worn to ward off evil, harm, or illness or to bring good fortune; protecting charm.
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Origin of amulet

1595–1605; (< Middle French amulete) < Latin amulētum

Synonyms

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talisman.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for amulet

Historical Examples

  • The "Amulet," or the "Omelet," just as you like, was a financial success.

    Kent Knowles: Quahaug

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Seeing how difficult he proved to strangle, they must have cursed that amulet of his.

  • What he did was to encircle our city with an amulet of saving virtue.

  • It became an amulet to increase the fertility of women and to help them in childbirth.

  • At Rome the phallus was an amulet and was worn by all children.

    Folkways

    William Graham Sumner

British Dictionary definitions for amulet

amulet

noun
  1. a trinket or piece of jewellery worn as a protection against evil; charm
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Word Origin

C17: from Latin amulētum, of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for amulet

n.

mid-15c., amalettys, from Latin amuletum (Pliny) "thing worn as a charm against spells, disease, etc.," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to amoliri "to avert, to carry away, remove." Not recorded again in English until c.1600; the 15c. use may be via French.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper