Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In India, magic; conjurers' tricks; an exhibition of apparently supernatural performances.

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

  • noun Pakistan, India Magic, sorcery.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindustani जादू (jādū) / جادو (jādū), from Persian جادو (jâdu).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word jadoo.

Examples

  • After an incantation and jadoo-music, he caught hold of the handle and raised the bowl and the rice slowly into space.

    Indian Conjuring 1912

  • Further, that he had told Suddhoo how a great danger was threatening his son, which could be removed by clean _jadoo_; and, of course, heavy payment.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Suddhoo shook all over, and while we groped our way upstairs told me that the _jadoo_ had begun, Janoo and

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • I began to see how the land lay, and told Suddhoo that I also understood a little jadoo in the Western line, and would go to his house to see that everything was done decently and in order.

    Plain Tales from the Hills Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • A fool's _jadoo_ has been going on for ten days, and has cost Suddhoo many rupees each night.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • We set off together; and on the way Suddhoo told me that he had paid the seal-cutter between one hundred and two hundred rupees already; and the _jadoo_ of that night would cost two hundred more.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Then, to encourage him further, I said that, if there was any _jadoo_ afoot, I had not the least objection to giving it my countenance and sanction, and to seeing that it was clean _jadoo_ -- white magic, as distinguished from the unclean _jadoo_ which kills folk.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • She whispered that the _jadoo_ was an invention to get money out of Suddhoo, and that the seal-cutter would go to a hot place when he died.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Suddhoo that I also understood a little _jadoo_ in the Western line, and would go to his house to see that everything was done decently and in order.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • I explained as much as I knew of the seal-cutter's way of _jadoo_; but her argument was much more simple -- "The magic that is always demanding gifts is no true magic," said she.

    Indian Tales Rudyard Kipling 1900

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.