talisman

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Whatever its form, the talisman was believed to exert an extraordinary influence over the bearer, especially in warding off disease or injury In its widest sense, the word talisman is synonymous with amulet The Dutch historian, Johann Busch (1400-1477), told of his meeting a woman, the wife or daughter of a soldier, on some public festal occasion at Halle in Prussian Saxony.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun An object marked with magic signs and believed to confer on its bearer supernatural powers or protection.
  2. noun Something that apparently has magic power.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The secret that I learned that day has acted like a talisman, and has turned every spot that I have visited into an enchanted ground. —  Mushrooms on the Moor
  • Whatever its form, the talisman was believed to exert an extraordinary influence over the bearer, especially in warding off disease or injury In its widest sense, the word talisman is synonymous with amulet The Dutch historian, Johann Busch (1400-1477), told of his meeting a woman, the wife or daughter of a soldier, on some public festal occasion at Halle in Prussian Saxony. —  Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery
  • Never part with it, day or night, and may it ever, by the very strength of my love for you, be as a talisman--a 'charm'--to stand between you and all peril, as you say the mental image of me has already done; how, I cannot see, but it is enough for me that you say so. —  The Sign of the Spider
  • It had indeed acted as a talisman, as a "charm" to stand between him and the most deadly of peril, as her aspiration had worded it. —  The Sign of the Spider
  • Treasure that sacred talisman, and heaven's blessings will be always with you. —  Second Book of Tales
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

amulet ·  runes ·  incantation ·  phylactery ·  potion ·  artifact
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French talisman or Spanish talismán or Italian talismano, all from Arabic ṭilasm, from Late Greek telesma, from Greek, consecration ceremony, from telein, to consecrate, fulfill, from telos, result; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Dutch talisman = German talismann = Swedish Danish talisman = French talisman = Italian talismano, from Spanish Portuguese talisman, a talisman, = Turkish Persian tilsam, tilism = Hindustani tilism, from Arabic tilsam, tulsem, also tilism, plural tilsamān, a talisman, from Middle Greek τέλεσμα, a consecrated object, a talisman, a later use of LGr. τέλεσμα, a religious rite, initiation, a particular use of Greek τέλεσμα, completion, from τελεῑν, end, complete, make perfect, initiate into sacred mysteries, from τέλος, end, completion, initiation. Cf. telesm.
  2. Also sometimes, as Middle Latin, in plural talismani, talismanni; = French talisman, from Middle Latin talismanus, talismannus, a Mohammedan priest, a molla; of obscure Arabic origin: perhaps from Arabic talāmiza, students, disciples.
 

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/ˈtælɪsmən/
by American Heritage

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