rune

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient Germanic peoples from the 3rd to the 13th century.
2. n. A similar character in another alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic powers.
3. n. A poem or incantation of mysterious significance, especially a magic charm.
4. n. A Finnish poem or section of a poem.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A letter or character used by the peoples of northern Europe from an early period to the eleventh century; in the plural, the ancient Scandinavian alphabets, believed to be derived from a Greek source; especially, the letters carved on stones, weapons, etc., found in Scandinavia, Scotland, and Ireland. Runes are found in almost all the maritime parts of Europe.
2. n. A short mystic sentence embodying the wisdom of the old Northern philosophers.
3. n. A secret; mystery; obscure saying.
4. n. Early rimes or poetry expressed, or which might be expressed, in runic characters.
5. n. Any song, poem, verse, or the like, which is mystically or obscurely expressed.
6. n. An obsolete variant of rine, run.

Wiktionary

1. n. A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons.
2. n. A Finnish poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.
3. n. Any verse or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; an incantation.
4. n. obsolete A roun.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general.
2. n. Old Norse poetry expressed in runes.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any character from an ancient Germanic alphabet used in Scandinavia from the 3rd century to the Middle Ages