What does abracadabra mean

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abracadabra.

Send us feedback. See more words from the same year. Accessed 13 Nov. More Definitions for abracadabra. Nglish: Translation of abracadabra for Spanish Speakers.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Articles Featured Facts Language. Source: native Hebrew speaker, though the words likely came to English through Aramaic. Daven Hiskey November 4, am. Dotan Cohen: Good stuff, thanks Dotan. Boruch Fishman November 5, am.

Joe H. November 5, am. Eric Webster November 5, am. Where is the picture from? Abra Cadabra December 29, pm. Kenny March 8, pm. It is like wishing someone would die. Spencer Schwartz April 2, am. He also briefly mentions abraxax. Glenn Clabough September 1, pm. Jesus brings God good news of victory see the work he does in me! The English language is forever changing. New words appear; old ones fall out of use or alter their meanings.

World Wide Words tries to record at least a part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. The source is three Hebrew words, ab father , ben son , and ruach acadosch holy spirit.

It originated with a Gnostic sect in Alexandria called the Basilidians and was probably based on Abrasax , the name of their supreme deity Abraxas in Latin sources. The belief in the power of the word lasted well into the 18th century. In his Journal of the Plague Year , , Daniel Defoe was saddened by the continuing superstition of the populace when faced with the threat of plague:.

People deceiv'd; and this was in wearing Charms, Philters, Exorcisms, Amulets, and I know not what Preparations, to fortify the Body with them against the Plague; as if the Plague was but a kind of a Possession of an evil Spirit; and that it was to be kept off with Crossings, Signs of the Zodiac, Papers tied up with so many Knots; and certain Words, or Figures written on them, as particularly the Word Abracadabra, form'd in Triangle, or Pyramid How the poor People found the Insufficiency of those things, and how many of them were afterwards carried away in the Dead-Carts.

Over time the belief in the power of 'abracadabra' receded and in the 19th century it came to mean 'fake magic'. Terms like 'legal abracadabra' were used to denote the flummoxing of juries by fast-talking lawyers. Stage conjurers then adopted it into their inventory of the 'magic' words they used to punctuate their acts and the first known usage of it in that context dates from