| 释义 |
voodoo, n.|ˈvuːduː|
Also vodoo, voodu, voudon, voudoo, voudou, voudoun, vudu, and vaudoux. (Cf. hoodoo.)
[ad. African (Dahomey) vodu.]
1. A form of religious witchcraft prevalent among Blacks in the West Indies, esp. Haiti, and the southern United States, and ultimately of African origin.
1880G. W. Cable Grandissimes xiv, Do this much for me this one time and then I will let voudou alone as much as you wish. 1884Lisbon (Dakota) Star 20 Sept., The Voudoos of Louisiana..were recently viewed at the funeral of a negress, one of the Queens of Voudoo. 1888Daily News 15 June 5/1 As generally understood, Voodoo means the persistence, in Hayti, of abominable magic, mysteries, and cannibalism, brought originally by the negroes from Africa. 1953M. Deren Divine Horsemen 15 Voudoun is the religion, primarily African in origin, of the vast majority of the Republic of Haiti in the West Indies.
2. One who practises voodoo; a Black sorcerer or witch; a voodoo spirit.
1880G. W. Cable Grandissimes xii, She practised the less baleful rites of the voudous. 1880New Orleans Picayune 20 May, The fool spends all her money to do us harm, thinking she is a voudou. 1888Daily News 15 June 5/2 Accused, like the Voodoos, of serpent-worship. 1953M. Deren Divine Horsemen 60 Voudoun (which is the Fons word for god) includes the loa (the Congo word for the spirits) of many nations. 1953Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Aug. 510 A Voudoun, as some purists insist, with little basis, in spelling it. 1958J. Sykes Quakers i. i. 34 Almost any gathering of English citizenry could run to a pitch one associates more with a Haitian voudoun possessed by ‘the loa’.
3. attrib., as voodoo adorer, voodoo dance, voodoo doctor, voodoo king, voodoo pantheon, voodoo priest, voodoo queen, etc.
1868De Bow's Rev. Aug. 724 But may not the agent be met, then, by some such valid objection, on the part of the Vodoo adorers? 1872New Orleans Times 28 June, Soon there arrived a skiff containing ten persons, among which was the Voudou queen. 1885Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 17 Aug. 2/4 Under the influence of some withered old mummy of a voudoo-doctor. 1887Lang Myth, Rit. & Relig. II. 240 The Voodoo-dance is consecrated as the ‘Jerusalem Jump’. 1888Pall Mall G. 4 July 13/2 An old negro woman who claims to be a great voudoo doctor. 1905Du Bois Souls Black Folk x. 198 The witch-woman and the voodoo-priest became the centre of Negro group life. 1939M. Steedman Unknown to World: Haiti xvii. 159 The gods and goddesses of the Voudon pantheon are known as the ‘Lois’. 1974A. Murray Stomping Blues ii. 10 Some specific..charm, or talisman, which can be counteracted only with the aid of a voodoo queen or madam (or somewhat less often, a voodoo king, doctor, witchdoctor, or snakedoctor).
Hence ˈvoodoo v. trans., to bewitch, to cast a spell over, by means of voodoo arts.
1880G. W. Cable Grandissimes xxix, It is true, as he says, that he is voudoued. 1880New Orleans Picayune 20 May, She flung this over into my yard to voudou me... She would spend her last dollar to voudou me. 1885C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 117 Averring that they had been ‘voudoued’ and nearly killed by the..fish.
▸ voodoo economics n. depreciative (orig. and chiefly U.S.) an economic policy perceived as being unrealistic and ill-advised, esp. a policy of maintaining or increasing levels of public spending while reducing taxation.
1980Philadelphia Inquirer 11 Apr. 12 a/3 Bush warned a friendly crowd of students not to be deceived by Reagan's ‘*voodoo economics’. 1996India Today 30 June 71/3 This is voodoo economics—the Government is promising a lot more of everything and is still hoping to keep the deficit within manageable limits. 2003Vanity Fair Oct. 233/1 Criticizing Bush's cut of dividend taxes as welfare for the rich, ‘voodoo economics’, and ‘Enron-style accounting’. |