Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The theosophy or mystic philosophy of the Hebrew religion, which grew up mainly after the beginning of the tenth century, and flourished for many generations. The cabala employed itself first in a mystic explanation of Deity and cosmogony, and in the creation of hidden meanings for the sacred Hebrew writings, thus drawing into its province all the Hebrew law and philosophy. Later cabalists pretended to find wonderful meanings even in the letters and forms of the sacred texts, and made for themselves elaborate rules of interpretation.
- n. Any secret science; esoteric as distinguished from exoteric doctrine; occultism; mysticism.
- n. Also spelled cabbala, kabbala.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A kind of occult theosophy or traditional interpretation of the Scriptures among Jewish rabbis and certain mediæval Christians, which treats of the nature of god and the mystery of human existence. It assumes that every letter, word, number, and accent of Scripture contains a hidden sense; and it teaches the methods of interpretation for ascertaining these occult meanings. The cabalists pretend even to foretell events by this means.
- n. Secret science in general; mystic art; mystery.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an esoteric theosophy of rabbinical origin based on the Hebrew scriptures and developed between the 7th and 18th centuries
- n. an esoteric or occult matter resembling the Kabbalah that is traditionally secret
Examples
“In the case of Madonna, who was born Roman Catholic, her fascination with Jewish images flows mostly out of her attraction to something that she calls cabala but that many dismiss as a distillation of New Age notions about the genuine cabala.”
“She can state her position on it if she wishes to or not state it and encourage the suspicion that there is come kind of cabala going with the telecom.”
Obama Camp Says It: He'll Support Filibuster Of Any Bill Containing Telecom Immunity
“Jewish 'cabala' or idea of the Messiah by the spiritualists before the”
“For though the Jews have such a cabala (called gematry) as this which Mr. White describes; yet that cabala which is argued in this instance, and which our Saviour reproves in the pharisees by the name of tradition, is quite another thing, and among the Jewish writers known by the name of the "unwritten, or oral law;" which they say was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, and by him conveyed to Aaron and Joshua, and the elders, and successively delivered down from one age to another; and at last by Rabbi Jehudah compiled into one volume which they call Mishna, or deute'rosis.”
The Works of Dr. John Tillotson, Late Archbishop of Canterbury. Vol. 10.
“cabala' of Paul on the other: while at the same time it weakens the more important half of the objection to, or doubt concerning, the authenticity of St. Peter's Epistles.”
“And if this secret pattern, this cabala, were deciphered, it would tell you how to construct a new society, one that was based on justice, equality and freedom.”
“The whole Clinton cabala with the Repubs is a figment of far left imagination.”
“The little we have learned is called hermetic knowledge, and the spells that summon forth their true appearance is called the cabala by some.”
“Different explanations for this have been proposed; Orson Scott Card suggested it has something to do with the state of science, where the greatest discoveries now have to do with such cabala as superstrings and subatomic particles, which in his view don't make for the greatest stories (though authors of the forms of sf mentioned above might disagree).”
“Witness: cabala, mehndi, yoga, putting those weird white dots on your eyes.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cabala’.
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caspermilktoast's Words
frenetic, farrago, fandango, ensemble, assay, emulsion, taut, winnow, ridonkulous, ginormous, frisson, idee fixe and 181 more...
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aozuas's Words
sense data, hyperreality, brouhaha, ibid, apophenia, fnord, lackadaisical, schadenfreude, bildungsroman, ready-made, readymade, tergiversar and 654 more...
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the name of the rose
pleasing words I encounter whilst reading umberto eco's novel of the same name.
matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, compline, usurper, simoniac, heresiarch, malefactor and 230 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cabala.
bilby See also cabbala. Or cabbalah. Or kabala. Or kabbala. Or kabbalah. Or qabbala. Or qabbalah
*faints* Sep 4, 2008