dervish

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion.
2. n. One that possesses abundant, often frenzied energy: "[She] is a dervish of unfocused energy, an accident about to happen” ( Jane Gross).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A Mohammedan monk, professing poverty, humility, and chastity; a Mohammedan fakir. There are thirty-six orders of regular dervishes, who for the most part observe celibacy, and live in convents of not more than forty persons, under the supervision of a sheik or elder. Some, however, are permitted to marry and live with their families, but are required to spend at least two nights of each week in the monastery. The novitiate is severe, and the rules of the orders are strict. They are generally divided into two classes, viz.: spinning or whirling dervishes (Mevlevis) and howling dervishes (Rufais). To the violent circular dances and pirouetting of the spinning dervishes the latter add vociferous shouting and cries to Allah. The most important order of dervishes is that of the Mevlevis, whose monasteries (Turkish tekye) are found at Konieh in Asia Minor, at Constantinople, and elsewhere.

Wiktionary

1. n. A member of Dervish fraternity of Sufism, known for spinning.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A Turkish or Persian monk, especially one who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere life.
2. n. One of the fanatical followers of the Mahdi, in the Sudan, in the 1880's.
3. n. in modern times, a member of an ascetic Mohammedan sect notable for its devotional exercises, which include energetic chanting or shouting and rhythmic bodily movement, such as whirling, leading to a trance-like state or ecstasy. From these exercises the phrase whirling dervish is derived.
4. n. figuratively, a person who whirls or engages in frenzied activity reminiscent of the dervish{3} dancing.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an ascetic Muslim monk; a member of an order noted for devotional exercises involving bodily movements