table-turningn.
/ˈteɪblˌtəːnɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈteɪb(ə)lˌtərnɪŋ/ Spiritualism.
At a seance, etc.: the turning or movement of a table, attributed to spirits, esp. acting through a group of people who have placed their hands on its surface. Cf. table-rapping n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun] > rapping or moving table (by spirit)
spirit rappings1846
table tipping1846
rapping1848
table-lifting1852
table-moving1852
table-turning1852
rap1853
table-rapping1853
table-tapping1854
table tilting1858
1852 Brit. Controversialist 3 320/2 The professed discovery of new forces... The most recent..example of this kind is..table turning and table talking.
1855 E. Smedley et al. Occult Sci. 200 Faraday explains table-turning by involuntary muscular action.
1931 A. Christie Sittaford Myst. xiv. 122 I shall never forget it. I dream of it. I shall never dare to do table-turning again.
1959 R. Heywood Beyond Reach of Sense (1961) iii. 21 Among the phenomena which aroused Lord Kelvin's anger were spiritualism and table-turning.
1990 A. S. Byatt Possession xix. 365 I have read about table-turning and spirit rappings in Papa's magazines and I say it sounds like conjuring tricks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1852