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Hegira

[hi-jahy-ruh, hej-er-uh]
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noun
  1. Islam. Hijra.
  2. (lowercase) Also hejira. any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place.
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Origin of Hegira

< Medieval Latin < Arabic; see Hijra
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hegira

Historical Examples

  • This was the first Hegira, or flight of the persecuted Moslems.

    A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihd'

    Moulavi Gergh Ali

  • Since the Hegira, nothing has happened in Arabia, and before that was Moses, and before him the giants.'

    Tancred

    Benjamin Disraeli

  • Dating reverently from its era, as the Moslem from his Hegira.

    Man of Uz, and Other Poems

    Lydia Howard Sigourney

  • That wretched stone from the cavern where Mahommed slept in the Hegira!

  • The Hegira is completed,—we have all taken roost in the old Tower.

    The Caxtons, Complete

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for hegira

Hegira

Hejira

noun
  1. the departure of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 ad; the starting point of the Muslim era
  2. the Muslim era itselfSee also AH
  3. (often not capital) an emigration escape or flight
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Also called: Hijrah

Word Origin

C16: from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijrah emigration or flight
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 hegira

n.

1580s, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (July 16, 622 C.E.), from which event the Islamic calendar reckons, from Medieval Latin hegira, from Arabic hijrah "departure," from hajara "to depart."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper