bull-roarer

American  

[bool-rawr-er, -rohr-] / ˈbʊlˌrɔr ər, -ˌroʊr- /

noun

1. a wooden slat that produces a roaring sound when whirled around one's head on the end of a string or thong, used by some peoples of the world in religious ceremonies and by others as a toy.

---

Etymology

Origin of bull-roarer

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

In Mrs. Langloh Parker's book a Messenger is called "the All-seeing Spirit," apparently identical with her Wallahgooroonbooan, whose voice is heard in the noise of the tundun, or bull-roarer, used in the Mysteries.*

From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Lang, Andrew

A number of questions are naturally suggested by the bull-roarer.

From Custom and Myth New Edition by Lang, Andrew

Among them was a bull-roarer, which a man sold me for a large sum, trembling violently with fear, and beseeching me not to show it to anybody.

From Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific by Speiser, Felix

Can it be that I inherit from a stone-age ancestor both the fear and love of the bull-roarer?

From Rustic Sounds and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History by Darwin, Francis, Sir

Mr. Andrew Lang has in an admirable paper shown that the bull-roarer has been regarded as so sacred among certain savages that women, or the profane, were not allowed to touch it. 

From Legends of Florence Collected from the People, First Series by Leland, Charles Godfrey