obeah

o·be·ah

(ō′bē-ə) also o·bi (ō′bē)

n. pl. o·be·ahs also o·bis

1. A form of religious belief of African origin, involving sorcery and practiced in Jamaica, some other parts of the West Indies, and nearby tropical America.

2. An object, charm, or fetish used in the practice of this belief.

[West Indian English, of West African origin; akin to Efik ubio, anything noxious, something put in the ground to cause sickness or death, bad omen.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

obeah

(ˈəʊbɪə)

(Clothing & Fashion) another word for obi²

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

o•be•ah

(ˈoʊ bi ə)

also obi

1. a form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, South America, the southern U.S., and Africa.

2. a fetish or charm used in practicing obeah.

[1750–60; ultimately < a West African language; compare Twi ɔ-bayifó sorcerer]

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Noun	1.	obeah - (West Indies) followers of a religious system involving witchcraft and sorcery obi cult - followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices the Indies, West Indies - the string of islands between North America and South America; a popular resort area
	2.	obeah - a religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery; practiced in parts of the West Indies and tropical Americas obi cultus, religious cult, cult - a system of religious beliefs and rituals; "devoted to the cultus of the Blessed Virgin"

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References in periodicals archive ?

For example, Pettersberg declared, "Peoples that is guilty of Obeah must not visit a Balm Yard.

Rastafari Resurgence in Reggae's Roots Revival Generation Two Reggae Songs by Chronixx in Jamaican Patwa

The Obeah Law of 1781 and 1898 incorporates Article 3:

Kumina in Rural South-Eastern Jamaica: Beyond Resistance to Antithetical-Hegemonic-Subsumption

My family felt that Obeah (8) could save my grandmother from death.

Towards a Rich(er) Inheritance: The Work of Receiving, Unearthing, and Gleaning Family Stories

Duppies are central to the obeah religion of Jamaica and are traditionally "called or summoned as helpers in the process of revealing mysteries, affording protection, or inflicting harm" (Fernandez Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert 170).

"Sticky" Identities: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Nalo Hopkinson's The Chaos

Dalma is a sexually manipulative, vaguely threatening Creole woman who practices obeah from her home in the shadowy mangrove swamps of an unnamed island.

CANNIBALS IN PARADISE: PERPETUATING AND CONTESTING CARIBBEAN ISLAND STEREOTYPES IN FILM

Broaddus, a writer whose work has appeared in publications from Asimov's Science Fiction to Apex Magazine, brings a less-heard perspective to speculative fiction, infusing his stories with African words and concepts, Jamaican obeah (Cabibbean folk magic), and other rich cultural sources.

The Voices of Martyrs

The next chapter, by Danielle Boaz, also uses legal colonial archives to emphasize the role played by "implements of Obeah" in the negotiation and renegotiation of cultural identity and in the resistance against social control in colonial Jamaica.

Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic

In this region of the world, magic goes by the names of: Obeah, Voodoo, and Santeria.

Finding your own magic: how Obeah and Voodoo provide women agency in Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea and Tiphanie Yanique's Land of Love and Drowning

Abstract: "'Haunted and Obeah': Gothic Spaces and Monstrous Landscapes in Jean Rhys's Voyage in the Dark" Born in Dominica to a Welsh father and a mother of Creole descent, Jean Rhys's identity as a white Creole expatriate endows her novels with a sense of profound alienation, especially from the landscape.

"Haunted and Obeah": Gothic spaces and monstrous landscapes in Jean Rhys's Voyage in the Dark

There is a plethora of themes that revolve around obeah, religious beliefs, sexual and economic exploitation of women by members of the planter class and Blacks in privileged positions.