Necromancy

Necromancy
Necromancy Nec"ro*man`cy, n. [OE. nigromaunce, nigromancie, OF. nigromance, F. n['e]cromance, n['e]cromancie, from L. necromantia, Gr. ?; nekro`s a dead body (akin to L. necare to kill, Skr. na[,c] to perish, vanish) + ? divination, fr. ? diviner, seer, akin to E. mania. See {Mania}, and cf. {Internecine}, {Noxious}. The old spelling is due to confusion with L. niger black. Hence the name black art.] The art of revealing future events by means of a pretended communication with the dead; the black art; hence, magic in general; conjuration; enchantment. See {Black art}. [1913 Webster]

This palace standeth in the air, By necromancy plac[`e]d there. --Drayton. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Necromancy — • A special mode of divination by the summoning of the dead Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Necromancy     Necromancy     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • necromancy — (n.) c.1300, nygromauncy, divination by communication with the dead, from O.Fr. nigromancie magic, necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, from M.L. nigromantia (13c.), from L. necromantia divination from an exhumed corpse, from Gk. nekromanteia, from… …   Etymology dictionary

  • necromancy — [n] sorcery abracadabra*, alchemy, bewitchment, black art, black magic, charm, conjuring, devilry, divination, enchantment, evil eye, hocus pocus*, incantation, jinx, magic, mumbo jumbo*, mysticism, occultism, spell, thaumaturgy, voodoo,… …   New thesaurus

  • necromancy — ► NOUN 1) prediction of the future by allegedly communicating with the dead. 2) witchcraft or black magic. DERIVATIVES necromancer noun necromantic adjective. ORIGIN from Greek nekros corpse …   English terms dictionary

  • necromancy — [nek′rə man΄sē] n. [ME nigromancie < OFr nigromance < ML nigromantia (altered by assoc. with L niger, black) < L necromantia < Gr nekromanteia < nekros, corpse (see NECRO ) + manteia, divination: see MANCY] 1. in some occult and… …   English World dictionary

  • Necromancy — This article is about the form of magic. For the film, see Necromancy (film). Necromancer redirects here. For other uses, see Necromancer (disambiguation). Illustration portraying a scene from the Bible wherein the Witch of Endor uses a… …   Wikipedia

  • necromancy — necromancer, n. necromantic; Obs., necromantical, adj. necromantically, adv. /nek reuh man see/, n. 1. a method of divination through alleged communication with the dead; black art. 2. magic in general, esp. that practiced by a witch or sorcerer; …   Universalium

  • necromancy — noun /ˈnɛkrəˌmænsi/ a) Divination involving the dead or death. And for to make this treatise the more pleasaunt and facill, I have put it in forme of a Dialogue, which I have diuided into three bookes: The first speaking of Magie in general, and… …   Wiktionary

  • necromancy — [13] Greek nekrós meant ‘corpse’ (it has given English necrophilia [19], necropolis ‘cemetery’ [19], and necrosis ‘death of tissue’ [17] as well as necromancy, and goes back to a base *nek ‘kill’ which also produced Latin nex ‘killing’, source of …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • necromancy — [[t]ne̱krəmænsi[/t]] N UNCOUNT Necromancy is magic that some people believe brings a dead person back to this world so that you can talk to them. [FORMAL] …   English dictionary

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