Abracadabra

Definition: Abracadabra

Abracadabra

Noun

1. Gibberish and nonsense.

Etymology: Abracadabra \Ab`ra*ca*dab"ra\, noun. [Latin expression Of unknown origin.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definitions: Abracadabra

Domain	Definitions
Satire	ABRACADABRA. By Abracadabra we signify An infinite number of things. 'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why? And Whence? and Whither? -- a word whereby The Truth (with the comfort it brings) Is open to all who grope in night, Crying for Wisdom's holy light. Whether the word is a verb or a noun Is knowledge beyond my reach. I only know that 'tis handed down. From sage to sage, From age to age -- An immortal part of speech! Of an ancient man the tale is told That he lived to be ten centuries old, In a cave on a mountain side. (True, he finally died.) The fame of his wisdom filled the land, For his head was bald, and you'll understand His beard was long and white And his eyes uncommonly bright. Philosophers gathered from far and near To sit at his feat and hear and hear, Though he never was heard To utter a word But "Abracadabra, abracadab, Abracada, abracad, Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!" 'Twas all he had, 'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each Made copious notes of the mystical speech, Which they published next -- A trickle of text In the meadow of commentary. Mighty big books were these, In a number, as leaves of trees; In learning, remarkably -- very! He's dead, As I said, And the books of the sages have perished, But his wisdom is sacredly cherished. In Abracadabra it solemnly rings, Like an ancient bell that forever swings. O, I love to hear That word make clear Humanity's General Sense of Things. Jamrach Holobom. Source: Devil's Dictionary.
Literature	Abracadabra A charm. It is said that Abracadabra was the supreme deity of the Assyrians. Q. Severus Sammonicus recommended the use of the word as a powerful antidote against ague, flux, and toothache. The word was to be written on parchment, and suspended round the neck by a linen thread, in the form given below: - A B R A C A D A B R A A B R A C A D A B R A B R A C A D A B A B R A C A D A A B R A C A D A B R A C A A B R A C A B R A A B R A B A. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Specialty Definition: Abracadabra

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Abracadabra is a popular phrase, now commonly used as an incantation by magicianss. In ancient times, however, the word was taken much more seriously as an incantation to be used as a cure against fevers and inflammations. It was first mentioned in this capacity in De Medicina Praecepta by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that the sufferer from the disease wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of an inverted cone:

A B R A C A D A B R A

A B R A C A D A B R

A B R A C A D A B

A B R A C A D A

A B R A C A D

A B R A C A

A B R A C

A B R A

A B R

A B

This, he explained, diminishes the hold of the spirit of the disease over the patient. Other Roman emperors, including Geta and Alexander Severus, were followers of the medical teachings of Serenus Sammonicus and are likely to have used the incantation as well.

Some scholars have argued that the incantation has its source in the Jewish mystical teachings of the Kabbalah, and that the word itself is a corruption of two Hebrew words: ha-brachah, meaning "the blessing" (used in this sense as a euphemism for "the curse") and dabra, an Aramaic form of the Hebrew word dever, meaning "pestilence." They point to a similar kabbalistic cure for blindness, in which the name of Shabriri, the demon of blindness, is similarly diminished. Other scholars are skeptical of this origin and claim that the idea of diminishing the power of demons was common throughout the ancient world, and that Abracadabra was simply the name of one such demon.

See also: Abraxas and Avada Kedavra Abracadabra is also a song on , the third album by the band Sugar Ray.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Abracadabra."

Top

Synonyms within Context: Abracadabra

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Spell	Noun: spell, charm, incantation, exorcism, weird, cabala, exsufflation, cantrap, runes, abracadabra, open sesame, countercharm, Ephesian letters, bell book and candle, Mumbo Jumbo, evil eye, fee-faw-fum.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Top

Crosswords: Abracadabra

Non-English Usage: "Abracadabra" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Dutch (abracadabra), French (Abracadabra), Italian (abracadabra), Portuguese (Abracadabra), Romanian (Abracadabra), Spanish (Abracadabra, hocus pocus).

Top

Modern Usage: Abracadabra

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Abracadabra (1952)
Song Titles	Abracadabra (performing artist: The Steve Miller Band)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Commercial Usage: Abracadabra

Domain	Title
Books	Abracadabra (reference) Abracadabra (Open Mouth Poetry Series) (reference) Abracadabra!: Secret Methods Magicians & Others Use to Deceive Their Audience (reference) The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Usage Frequency: Abracadabra

"Abracadabra" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 55.56% of the time. "Abracadabra" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (proper)	55.56%	5	157,705
Noun (singular)	33.33%	3	202,518
Interjection	11.11%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	9	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Abracadabra

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
abracadabra	148
abracadabra lyrics	13
abracadabra cruise	8
steve miller band abracadabra	6
abracadabra song	6
abracadabra magic	4
abracadabra meaning	4
abracadabra limousine	3
abracadabra midi	3
abracadabra dj	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Modern Translations: Abracadabra

Language		Translations for "abracadabra"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		Gjuhë Pa Kuptim, Formulë Magjike (spell). (various references)

Arabic		‏تعويذة (amulet, charm, exorcism, incantation, mascot, phylactery, talisman, voodoo). (various references)

Bulgarian		Заклинание (Rune), Безсмислица. (various references)

Dutch		wartaal. (various references)

Esperanto		sorĉvortoj, deliraĵo. (various references)

Farsi		ورد (Jaber, Slogan), سخن نامفهوم (Jaberwocky), طلسم (Amulet, Charm, Glamor, Glamour, Incantation, Juju, Ligature, Spell, Talisman). (various references)

French		Abracadabra. (various references)

German		Abrakadabra. (various references)

Greek		όυστηριώδησ ή όαγική Λέξη. (various references)

Hebrew		־לת קסם, ּחש-� חש, ְברכ�"בר�", ֻשוף. (various references)

Hungarian		Varázsige (incantation, spell). (various references)

Italian		abracadabra. (various references)

Pig Latin		abracadabraay.(various references)

Portuguese		amuleto (amulet, charm, pericarditis, phylactery, talisman), Abracadabra, Feitiço (bewitchment, charm, conjuration, enchantment, fetishist, hexagon, incantation, juju, sorcery, witchcraft, witchery), Exorcismo (conjuration, exorcize), Encantamento (charm, conjuration, enchantment, glamor, glamour, incantation, juju, magic, spell), divagação (digression, divalent, excursion, excusable, rave, raving). (various references)

Romanian		Abracadabra. (various references)

Russian		Заклинание, Абракадабра. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		abrakadabra. (various references)

Spanish		Abracadabra (hocus pocus). (various references)

Swedish		Abrakadabra. (various references)

Turkish		Anlamsız Söz (gobbledygook, inanity, jabber wocky, rubbish), Abrakadabra. (various references)

Ukranian		Заклинання, Абракадабра, Безглуздя (Folly). (various references)

Vietnamese		câu thần chú lời nói khó hiểu. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top

Derivations & Misspellings: Abracadabra

Derivations
	Words beginning with "abracadabra": abracadabras. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Abracadabra" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abacada, Abbacadabra. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top

Rhyming with "Abracadabra"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "abracadabra" (pronounced a'brukuda"bru)
3	-b r u	algebra, candelabra, Cobra, hombre, Libra, macabre, Penumbra, Sabra, umbra, vertebra, zebra.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top

Anagrams: Abracadabra

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words containing the letters "a-a-a-a-a-b-b-c-d-r-r"
	+1 letter: abracadabras.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.