Lexic.us

Definition of Shaman

1. Noun. In societies practicing shamanism: one acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds; practices sorcery for healing or divination.

Definition of Shaman

1. n. A priest of Shamanism; a wizard among the Shamanists.

Definition of Shaman

1. Noun. A traditional (prescientific) faith healer. ¹

2. Noun. A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Shaman

1. a medicine man among certain North American Indians [n -S] : SHAMANIC [adj]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Shaman

Literary usage of Shaman

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"The shaman by appropriate words and acts uses his power to shield man ... The belief that the shaman practises this magic art is universal among savages. ..."

2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"Every person has a spirit- protector, but that of the shaman is of a kind apart. ... In the practice of his art the shaman is regarded as: (a) A healer, ..."

3. Chinook texts by Franz Boas (1894)
"When the wife of a man is taken away, he secretly pays the shaman, ... When a deceased relative's wife is taken by a stranger, a shaman is paid secretly and ..."

4. Chinook texts by Franz Boas (1894)
"When a shaman and somebody who has no guardian spirit are angry against each other, and the shaman sends disease against his enemy, he is killed. ..."

5. Report of the Annual Meeting (1891)
"animal is henceforth, as it were, a relation of the shaman, and helps him whenever ... When he returns from the woods the shaman is able to care diseases, ..."

6. Seal and Salmon Fisheries and General Resources of Alaska by David Starr Jordan, Henry Wood Elliott, Washburn Maynard, Sheldon Jackson, William Gouverneur Morris, Ivan Petroff, Charles Haskins Townsend, Frederick William True, John J. Brice, Leonhard Stejneger (1898)
"However, the descendants of a shaman are not always able to follow in his ... A man who intends to prepare himself to become a shaman proceeds for a time ..."

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