hoodoo

[hoo-doo]

noun

plural

hoodoos 

1. Hoodoo. African American folk magic practiced predominantly in the southeastern United States through rituals of protection, herbal medicine, charming of objects, and ancestor veneration.

2. (in popular culture) bad luck, or a person or thing that brings bad luck.

3. Geology.,  a pillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion.

verb (used with object)

hoodooed, hoodooing 

1. (in popular culture) to bring or cause bad luck to.

hoodoo

/ ˈhuːduː /

noun

1. a variant of voodoo

2. informal,  a person or thing that brings bad luck

3. informal,  bad luck

4. (in the western US and Canada) a strangely shaped column of rock

verb

1. informal,  (tr) to bring bad luck to

Other Word Forms

• hoodooism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoodoo¹

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; apparently a variant of Voodoo

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoodoo¹

C19: variant of _voodoo

Example Sentences

Performance aside, with seven points on the board and bottom seeds Belarus to face at the weekend, Clarke's side have given themselves a great chance of ending the nation's 27-year World Cup hoodoo.

Read more on BBC

The Bulls have lost a second URC final in succession, having fallen to Glasgow last year, but it was Leinster's day as they got over their final hoodoo.

Read more on BBC

There’s dread in the hoodoo mysticism that blues voices like Sammie’s have — voices with the power, like Orpheus, to unite the living and the dead.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Joined by a lyrical harmonica and Caton’s vocals, it’s music that almost lets the audience smell the cotton fields and country roads and smoke-filled hoodoo huts.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

So I may as well say a hoodoo like this one will continue and City will get over the line, even if Newcastle do definitely have a goal or two in them.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• magic 
• sorcery 
• witchcraft 
• worldview