MUMBO JUMBO • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Mumbo Jumbo

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noun

Mumbo Jumbo n.

Among the Mandingos of the western Sudan, a bugbear by means of which the women are terrified and disciplined by societies of the men, one of whom assumes a masquerade for the purpose; hence, loosely, any Negro idol, fetish, or bugaboo. "The miserable Mumbo Jumbo they paraded."

An object of superstitious homage and fear.

Incomprehensible or senseless language, usually intended to avoid answering plainly, confuse a listener, or obscure an issue.

Language so arcane or obscure as to be unintelligible to the listener.

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Etymology of 'Mumbo Jumbo'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mumbo Jumbo" Quotes from Famous Books

... interposition of malevolent and benevolent spirits. Their gods are numerous as in Greek religion, and likewise one of them is usually set up as the superior deity, to be the Tirawa of the Indian, the greater Atua of Polynesia, and the Mumbo Jumbo of a West African negro. There is no centralization of the supernatural powers, as in the Jehovah of Judaism and the still subtler Brahma of the Asian. Then, too, the gods must be concretely materialized ...

— The Doctrine of Evolution - Its Basis and Its Scope • Henry Edward Crampton

... to a village where a curious custom prevailed. Hanging on a tree, he found a sort of masquerading dress made out of bark. He discovered that it belonged to a strange bugbear known to all the natives of the neighbourhood as Mumbo Jumbo. The natives or Kafirs of this part had many wives, with the result that family quarrels often took place. If a husband was offended by his wife he disappeared into the woods, disguised himself in the dress of Mumbo Jumbo, and, armed with the rod of authority, ...

— A Book of Discovery - The History of the World's Exploration, From the Earliest - Times to the Finding of the South Pole • Margaret Bertha (M. B.) Synge

Words linked to "Mumbo Jumbo" : gibberish, gibber