gen. |
a formula of words used with occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or creating other magical results (wiktionary.org); a ritual recitation of words or sounds believed to have a magical effect (Incantation shares a Latin source with enchant, both of which are related to chant. An incantation, then, summons a thing or action into being with words that are sung, spoken, or written. Long before it became the catchword of stage magicians, abracadabra was regarded as a powerful incantation capable of warding off serious disease. The phrase hocus pocus may be a corruption of a seventeenth-century incantation spoken during the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, "hoc est corpus meum" ("this is my body"): "I’m not afraid of any devil or demon or incantation," she said. • Cabin visitors fight protean spirits of the dead with a chainsaw, a shotgun and Egyptian incantations. • Teens in a remote cabin accidentally resurrect demonic forces with a taped incantation and the Book of the Dead. • Trump’s latest solution for the wildfires is something he describes as “forest management,” a term he continually repeats as if it’s a magic incantation. • Chiron was learned in the use of herbs and gentle incantations and cooling potions. • Andy says, staring into the distance, almost whispering the words like an incantation. • I count my ribs like rosary beads, muttering incantations, fingers curling under the bony cage.
vocabulary.com) |