obeah
Americannoun
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a form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, South America, the southern U.S., and Africa.
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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
He studied anthropology at Harvard University and published several papers on Afro-Jamaican folklore and obeah, a spiritual practice combining Christian and African rituals.
From Washington Post
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 Literature
It also corresponds with the obeah of the West Indies, the ubio of the Efik race, a charm put into the ground to hurt or kill.
From Project Gutenberg
Your obeah charlatans are grovelling in their cellars.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
