Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
- noun An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence.
- noun Something, such as a material object or nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.
- noun An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any material object regarded with awe, as having mysterious powers residing in it or as being the representative or habitation of a deity to which worship may be paid, and from which supernatural aid is to be expected.
- noun Hence An object of blind devotion; an idol: as, gold has become his fetish.
- noun Same as
fetish-man .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- See
fetich , n.,fetichism , n.,fetichistic , a.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers
- noun a form of sexual desire in which gratification depends to an abnormal degree on some object or item of clothing or part of the body
- noun excessive or irrational devotion to some activity
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Figuratively, a fetish is any object that arouses excessive devotion: Lucille made a fetish of her Porsche.
fetish 2002
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The word "fetish" comes from a Latin word, feticium, which means "idol".
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I use the term fetish object in both an erotic sense, as well as to represent the small, carved figures used by the Zuni Indians to invoke attributes such as courage, honor, and wisdom.
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Eventually, people came to associate the word fetish uniquely with the religious art of pagan including Native American societies, but, in fact, it is the product of a Christian worldview.
Come Hither Dr. Gloria G. Brame 2000
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Eventually, people came to associate the word fetish uniquely with the religious art of pagan including Native American societies, but, in fact, it is the product of a Christian worldview.
Come Hither Dr. Gloria G. Brame 2000
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Eventually, people came to associate the word fetish uniquely with the religious art of pagan including Native American societies, but, in fact, it is the product of a Christian worldview.
Come Hither Dr. Gloria G. Brame 2000
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The observances of fetish-worship fade away into the customs and habits of everyday life by gradations, so that in some of the superstitious beliefs, while there may be no formal handling of a fetish amulet containing a spirit nor actual prayer nor sacrifice, nevertheless spiritism is the thought and is more or less consciously held, and consequently the term fetish might perhaps be extended to them.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913
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We coined the term fetish-burlesque as our genre of entertainment because of this.
Archive 2008-01-01 Burlesque Daily 2008
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We coined the term fetish-burlesque as our genre of entertainment because of this.
Interview: The Porcelain Twinz Burlesque Daily 2008
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The English word fetish can be traced back to the medieval Portuguese word fetich, which refers to religious relics believed to possess magical properties.
Come Hither Dr. Gloria G. Brame 2000
yarb commented on the word fetish
Whenever she had been heavily fetishing and/or drugging she crashed her in his main office.
- P.K. Dick, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.
March 26, 2012