Definitions

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

  • noun A religion of West African origin practiced chiefly in Haiti and other Caribbean countries, based on animism, magic, and elements of Roman Catholic ritual, and characterized by belief in a supreme God and a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions.
  • noun A practitioner, priest, or priestess of voodoo.
  • noun Deceptive or delusive nonsense.
  • transitive verb To place under the influence of a spell or curse; bewitch.
  • adjective Of or relating to the beliefs or practices of voodoo.
  • adjective Based on unrealistic or delusive assumptions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A common name among creoles and in many of the southern United States for any practicer of malicious, defensive, amatory, healing, or soothsaying enchantments, charms, witchcrafts, or secret rites, especially when they are tinctured with African superstitions and customs; especially, one who makes such practices a business.
  • noun The same title transferred by voodoos to a personal evil spirit supreme among evil powers.
  • noun plural The practicers of voodoo rites as a collective body.
  • Pertaining to or associated with the superstitions and peculiar practices of the voodoos: as, a voodoo dance (a violent indecent dance belonging to the secret nocturnal ceremonies of the voodoos); a voodoo doctor, or voodoo priest (the terms most commonly used in creole countries for any professional voodoo); voodoo king or queen (the person who, by a certain vague election and tenure, holds for life a local preëminence and some slight, authority over all voodoos of the surrounding country).
  • To affect by voodoo conjuration or charms.

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

  • noun See voodooism.
  • noun One who practices voodooism; a negro sorcerer.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to voodooism, or a voodoo.

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

  • noun A religion of the Ewe/Fon of West Africa, practiced chiefly in Benin.
  • noun Any of a group of related religious practices found chiefly in and around the Caribbean, particularly in Haiti and Louisiana.
  • noun pejorative Any sort of magical or irrational approach to a problem.
  • verb To enchant someone or something using voodoo

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

  • noun a charm superstitiously believed to embody magical powers
  • noun a religious cult practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries (especially Haiti); involves witchcraft and animistic deities
  • verb bewitch by or as if by a voodoo
  • noun (Haiti) followers of a religion that involves witchcraft and animistic deities

Etymologies

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

[Louisiana French voudou, from Ewe vodu and Fon vodun.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Louisiana French voudou, from Haitian Creole vodou, from West African, such as Ewe (Dahomey and Togo) vódũ ‘deity, idol’, Fon vodū ‘fetish’, vodun, Kwa vodũ.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word voodoo.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • moomoo

    May 30, 2008

  • toodoo

    May 30, 2008

  • zoopoo

    May 30, 2008

  • booboo

    May 30, 2008

  • doodoo

    May 30, 2008

  • froofroo

    May 30, 2008

  • This reminds me of Labyrinth.

    "You remind me of the babe."

    "What babe?"

    "The babe with the power."

    "What power?"

    "The power of voodoo."

    "Who do?"

    "You do."

    "What?"

    "Remind me of the babe."

    May 30, 2008

  • Dontcry, you all right there? Need a lozenge?

    May 30, 2008

  • hooroo

    May 30, 2008

  • Thanks, rt -- I went off the deep end for a minute there. I'm back now. *clearing throat, fidgeting in chair.*

    May 30, 2008

  • Labyrinth! Yes. And it also reminds me of Blazing Saddles. "Go do that voodoo that you do so well!"

    Oh, and dontcry? Hoodoo.

    May 31, 2008

  • Boohoo.

    May 31, 2008

  • Don't cry dontcry.

    June 1, 2008

  • Hoohoo? Heehee.

    June 1, 2008

  • “The McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo was a long-range, twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. Although it never entered service, its design was adapted for the subsequent F-101 Voodoo.�? More on Wikipedia.

    December 30, 2008

  • “The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo was a supersonic military fighter flown by the USAF and the RCAF. Initially designed as a long-range bomber escort (known as a penetration fighter) for the Strategic Air Command (SAC), the Voodoo served in a variety of other roles, including that of an all-weather interceptor aircraft with the Air Defense Command / Aerospace Defense Command (ADC) and fighter bomber and photo reconnaissance roles with the Tactical Air Command (TAC).�? More on Wikipedia.

    December 30, 2008