Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A charm or amulet; a fetish.
  • noun Same as gru-gru.
  • noun In West Africa, the sassy-bark: see Erythrophleum. The name is probably due to the fact that the tree enters into the fetish worship and ordeals of the natives.

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

  • noun An African amulet, talisman or charm. Same as gree-gree

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

  • noun an African amulet
  • noun tropical American feather palm having a swollen spiny trunk and edible nuts

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Nor do they employ skilled physicians to any considerable extent, especially in the early stages of their illness, for, inheriting from their African ancestry a belief in the potency of gri-gri charms

    The American Negro: What He Was, What He Is, and What He May Become: A Critical and Practical Discussion 1901

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights, Volume 2. Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterward that "gri-gri" meant "gray-gray," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights, Complete Gilbert Parker 1897

  • Moronval, who placed no faith in the _gri-gri_, presented his bill -- and such a bill!

    Jack 1877 Alphonse Daudet 1868

  • Same as above, though for slingshot toproping with the gri-gri, the palm-down is fine, too.

    unknown title 2009

  • Locking up - both the gri-gri and cinch did just fine.

    unknown title 2009

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