Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Magic healing and control, especially in African-based folk medicine in the United States and the Caribbean.
  • noun A practitioner of hoodoo.
  • noun Voodoo.
  • noun Bad luck.
  • noun One that brings bad luck.
  • noun Geology A column of eccentrically shaped rock, produced by differential weathering.
  • transitive verb To practice hoodoo on; affect with a charm or curse.
  • transitive verb To bring bad luck to.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as voodoo.
  • To bring or cause bad luck to, as a person or an enterprise.
  • noun Same as voodoo.
  • noun [From the verb.] A bewitchment; an occult cause of bad luck; hence, a person supposed to bring bad luck: opposed to mascot.
  • noun A name given in the northwestern United States to certain grotesque columns, the products of volcanic action and erosion, left standing on the slopes of mountains and in deep gulches.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Western U. S. A natural rock pile or pinnacle of fantastic shape.
  • noun colloq. One who causes bad luck.
  • noun Same as voodoo.
  • noun Bad luck.
  • transitive verb Colloq., U. S. To be a hoodoo to; to bring bad luck to by occult influence; to bewitch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun African traditional folk magic.
  • noun geology A tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of arid basins and badlands.
  • noun Something or someone believed to bring bad luck.
  • verb To bring bad luck or misfortune, to jinx.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb bring bad luck; be a source of misfortune
  • noun (geology) a column of weathered and unusually shaped rock
  • noun a charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers
  • noun a practitioner of voodoo
  • noun something believed to bring bad luck

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Of West African origin, possibly from voodoo.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Possibly an alteration of voodoo or from Hausa, hu'du'ba/hu3'du3'ba1 ("to arouse resentment"). In English, meaning altered to “bring bad luck”, then applied to things thought to bring bad luck, including the thin spires of rock now called hoodoos.

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Examples

  • LOL A hoodoo is a swamp critter thatll eatcha up especially at night in the deep dark swamp!!

    An 18-Year Bear Hunt 2007

  • "The name hoodoo comes from the word voodoo and was given to these geological formations by the Europeans," notes a sign on one of the trails.

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • "The name hoodoo comes from the word voodoo and was given to these geological formations by the Europeans," notes a sign on one of the trails.

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • How Lucas responds could go a long way towards determining if Liverpool finally break that title hoodoo, especially since

    Soccer Blogs - latest posts 2009

  • They say it has what you Americans call a hoodoo on it.

    Chapter 8 2010

  • So, when Superman commanded everyone to resist hypnotic suggestions, he unwittingly undid his own hypnotic hoodoo, which is why Lana didn't see Superman as Clark, even when wearing Clark's get-up.

    Archive 2004-02-29 2004

  • So, when Superman commanded everyone to resist hypnotic suggestions, he unwittingly undid his own hypnotic hoodoo, which is why Lana didn't see Superman as Clark, even when wearing Clark's get-up.

    Archive 2004-03-01 2004

  • So, when Superman commanded everyone to resist hypnotic suggestions, he unwittingly undid his own hypnotic hoodoo, which is why Lana didn't see Superman as Clark, even when wearing Clark's get-up.

    Archive 2004-02-29 2004

  • They say it has what you Americans call a hoodoo on it.

    Local Colour 1911

  • This would have been the case if, as you suppose, the hoodoo were a myth begotten of a series of fortuitous events.

    The Hoodoo of the Minnietta 1907

Comments

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  • Hoodoo dat? Yoodoo dat?

    August 22, 2007

  • Ayedoo dat. Alldah thyme.

    August 22, 2007

  • Well, then cumin jine de crowd.

    August 22, 2007

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    August 22, 2007

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    August 22, 2007

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    August 22, 2007

  • Wye? Awn a count o' becose! 'Ats why.

    August 22, 2007

  • Icy. Write den, mini apollo jeez miff rend.

    August 22, 2007

  • The pain! The pain!

    August 22, 2007

  • Sore rhea bout dat.

    August 22, 2007

  • No arm, no fowl, Amy go. Tink no sing off it...

    August 22, 2007

  • Oak hay.

    August 22, 2007

  • ya think you are?

    June 2, 2008