witch doctorn.
/ˈwɪtʃ ˌdɒktə/, U.S. /ˈwɪtʃ ˌdɑktər/ 1.
a. A person who claims to cure disease and to counteract witchcraft using magic; a wizard or witch. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > alternative practitioner > [noun] > using magic
ophiogenes1601
piai1613
witch doctor1718
dukun1817
piaiman1825
wizard1845
doctor1846
mganga1860
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > sorcerer or medicine man
fetisheer1613
witch doctor1718
gris-gris man1788
medicine man1801
wizard1845
inyanga1862
moloi1871
goofer1887
trick-doctor1889
1718 F. Hutchinson Hist. Ess. conc. Witchcraft viii. 110 The said Dorothy Durent, having been with a Witch-Doctor, acknowledges..that [etc.].
1901 Lancet 19 Oct. 1085/2 He was considered to be a ‘witch doctor’ and..farmers and females went to him to have the ‘evil eye’ removed.
2002 R. Porter Blood & Guts ii. 21 But from early times, healing also became the craft of diviners and witch-doctors, fighting off the disorders raining down from above and offering remedies.
b. Originally and chiefly in southern Africa: a traditional healer and diviner, esp. one who claims to guard against or cure afflictions thought to be caused by spirit possession or witchcraft. In later use also applied to traditional healers in other parts of Africa and the world. Cf. witch n. 1c and witchfinder n. 2.See also inyanga n., mganga n., moloi n., ngaka n., sangoma n., tagati n. 1, and umtagati n. 1.Because this term has acquired derogatory connotations (cf. sense 2), anthropologists now prefer the terms diviner or traditional healer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > sorcerer or medicine man > African witch-doctor
witch doctor1817
witchfinder1833
witch doctress1834
ngaka1871
sangoma1893
1817 G. R. Nyländer Jrnl. 20 Dec. in Proc. Church Missionary Soc. 1818–9 (1819) 256/1 After prayers, saw the witch-doctor, and asked why he did not come to prayers.
1836 R. M. Martin Hist. S. Afr. i. iv. 168 So infatuated [are they] in a belief of the infallibility of the wizard or witch doctor.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 445 One witch doctor may have..particular influence over one class of spirit and another over another class.
1937 M. Covarrubias Island of Bali x. 339 Some people are born with a capacity to store a higher charge of magic [energy] than others; they become the priests, witch-doctors, and so forth, endowed with supernatural powers.
1966 New Scientist 25 Aug. 414/3 Bufotenine (5–HDMT) is the active hallucinogen in potions prepared from plants by witch-doctors in the West Indies.
1994 H. Holland Born in Soweto viii. 141 Sara Mashele is a diviner and herbalist, a traditional healer known to blacks as a sangoma and to most whites as a witchdoctor.
2008 Inner Tapestry June 7/1 These witch doctors or weed women trained through long apprenticeships to learn and understand the herbs of their region.
2. Chiefly derogatory. A person who treats mental health problems; a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalyst. Cf. headshrinker n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > psychiatrist
mad-doctor1697
head-doctor1850
mind-curer1856
psychiater1857
alienist1864
psychopath1864
psychiatrist1869
mind-curist1889
trick-cyclist1897
soul doctor1922
loony-doctor1925
witch doctor1930
psych1946
headshrinker1950
wig-picker1961
shrink1966
shrinker1967
1930 W. Lewis Apes of God ii. 81 Frumpfsusan had spoken. Scale was of the essence! All else being equal—the jewish witch doctor's face had smiled broadly, naturally who wouldn't, as he had counselled—‘No overmatching.’
1947 H. Eustis Horizontal Man 48 ‘That's the ink-blot thing?’ Forstmann nodded. ‘You witch doctors!’ said Bainbridge.
2004 N.Y. Times 5 Sept. (Book Rev. section) 10/1 I wouldn't give up on the wily old witch-doctor [sc. Sigmund Freud] just yet: psychoanalysis, having incorporated some of his ideas and rejected others, has in fact moved far beyond him.
Derivatives
ˈwitch-ˌdoctoring n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > [noun] > witch-doctoring
powwow1820
witch-doctoring1850
piaiing1876
piaiism1882
witchdoctory1919
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > sorcerer or medicine man > practice of
witch-doctoring1850
witchdoctory1919
1850 J. Maclean Let. 26 Aug. in Cape of Good Hope: Corr. Governor Relative to Kafir Tribes (1851) 17 in Parl. Papers XXXVIII. 1 I have the honour to report that Umlanjeni, a Kafir of Umkye's tribe and location, has lately revived the witch-doctoring craft.
1977 P. Johnson Enemies of Society xv. 197 Those who practise psychiatric medicine are in the position of early-nineteenth-century doctors, trying to get round as yet unsolved difficulties by witch-doctoring.
2007 German Stud. Rev. 30 526 Orfeo exploits his exotic appearance with a sideline in faux-African witch-doctoring.
ˈwitchˌdoctory n. the activities or practices of witch doctors.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > [noun] > witch-doctoring
powwow1820
witch-doctoring1850
piaiing1876
piaiism1882
witchdoctory1919
the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > sorcerer or medicine man > practice of
witch-doctoring1850
witchdoctory1919
1919 Windsor Mag. 50 471/2 They terrorised the superstitious people, just worked their will through threat of witchcraft, witch-doctory, and the like.
2004 P. de Rosa Fatal Flaw Christianity iii. 110 The witchdoctory of an African village.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1718