Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In God's name: an adjuration or exclamation common among Moslems. Sometimes written bizmellah.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • interjection An adjuration or exclamation common among the Mohammedans.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection In the name of Allah! (a Muslim exclamation)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Arabic بسم الله‎ (b-ismi-llāhi, "in the name of God")

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Examples

  • (pictured, frontman Freddie Mercury), not too many songs use the word "bismillah" - and some are tricky (it helps to pick out words that rhyme or words from the title), but all achieve a wonderful new kind of free-verse poetry; it seems the best lyrics still manage to tell the same story even when the words are shuffled.

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • (pictured, frontman Freddie Mercury), not too many songs use the word "bismillah" - and some are tricky (it helps to pick out words that rhyme or words from the title), but all achieve a wonderful new kind of free-verse poetry; it seems the best lyrics still manage to tell the same story even when the words are shuffled.

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • (pictured, frontman Freddie Mercury), not too many songs use the word "bismillah" - and some are tricky (it helps to pick out words that rhyme or words from the title), but all achieve a wonderful new kind of free-verse poetry; it seems the best lyrics still manage to tell the same story even when the words are shuffled.

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • (pictured, frontman Freddie Mercury), not too many songs use the word "bismillah" - and some are tricky (it helps to pick out words that rhyme or words from the title), but all achieve a wonderful new kind of free-verse poetry; it seems the best lyrics still manage to tell the same story even when the words are shuffled.

    Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch 2009

  • If you set out on a journey, you mutter "bismillah" as you start -- "in the name of Allah."

    What Is To Become of the British Protectorates? 1944

  • "bismillah" at the critical moment, which of course spoilt everything.

    Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia Norman Douglas 1910

  • Instead of just saying a simple shukran, thank-you, Tayeb always had to say shukran jazeelan, and he never hesitated to add a rahmit Allah or a bismillah alrahman al-rahim when he could.

    A Country Called AMREEKA Alia Malek 2009

  • Instead of just saying a simple shukran, thank-you, Tayeb always had to say shukran jazeelan, and he never hesitated to add a rahmit Allah or a bismillah alrahman al-rahim when he could.

    A Country Called AMREEKA Alia Malek 2009

  • Instead of just saying a simple shukran, thank-you, Tayeb always had to say shukran jazeelan, and he never hesitated to add a rahmit Allah or a bismillah alrahman al-rahim when he could.

    A Country Called AMREEKA Alia Malek 2009

  • He opened his speeches with the customary blessing, “In the name of God, the most gracious and compassionate,” but instead of bismillah al rahman al rahim he would say bismillah al wahman al wahim, lending a childlike air to his syllables even when his speech thundered with hate or threats.

    A Privilege to Die Thanassis Cambanis 2010

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