Witch doctor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the song, see Witch Doctor (song).
A witch doctor often refers to healers that believe that maladies are caused by magic and are therefore best cured by it, as opposed to science or developed medicine.

The term witch doctor is generally used with negative connotations, as implying that the people who the witch doctor serves are primitive and credulous.

The term does not, as is popularly believed, mean 'a doctor who uses witchcraft to cure'. It means a person who treats maladies caused by witchcraft. The term was originally used to signify the cunning folk, practitioners of folk magic who sold their services to ward off witchcraft or turn it back upon the supposed sender.

In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil. The practices of these worthies may be judged of by the following case, reported in the "Hertford Reformer," of the 23rd of June, 1838. The witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham. According to the writer in "The Reformer," the dupe, whose name is not mentioned, had been for about two years afflicted with a painful abscess, and had been prescribed for without relief by more than one medical gentleman. He was urged by some of his friends, not only in his own village, but in neighbouring ones, to consult the witch-doctor, as they were convinced he was under some evil influence. He agreed, and sent his wife to the cunning man, who lived in New Saint Swithin's, in Lincoln. She was informed by this ignorant impostor that her husband's disorder was an infliction of the devil, occasioned by his next-door neighbours, who had made use of certain charms for that purpose. From the description he gave of the process, it appears to be the same as that employed by Dr. Fian and Gellie Duncan, to work woe upon King James. He stated that the neighbours, instigated by a witch, whom he pointed out, took some wax, and moulded it before the fire into the form of her husband, as near as they could represent him; they then pierced the image with pins on all sides -- repeated the Lord's Prayer backwards, and offered prayers to the devil that he would fix his stings into the person whom that figure represented, in like manner as they pierced it with pins. To counteract the effects of this diabolical process, the witch-doctor prescribed a certain medicine, and a charm to be worn next the body, on that part where the disease principally lay. The patient was to repeat the 109th and 119th Psalms every day, or the cure would not be effectual. The fee which he claimed for this advice was a guinea. - Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_doctor"

Noun
witchcraft

1. magic, sorcery or the use supernatural powers to influence or predict events
Noun

1. a wizard, a soothsayer or magician

Noun
witch (plural: witches)

1. A (usually female) person who uses magic.
2. (derogatory) An ugly or unpleasant woman.

I hate that old witch

Noun
warlock (warlocks)

1. A magic-user, stereotypically male and evil. Often portrayed wearing a dark, high-collar robe, and carrying a staff or orb.

Noun
wizard (fem: wizardess)

1. one who uses (or has skill with) magic, mystic items, and/or mystical practices
2. one who is especially skilled or unusually talented with a particular field
3. enabler and referee in roleplaying games such as dungeons and dragons
4. Computer program or script used to simplify complex operations for an inexperienced user.

Adjective
magic

1. having supernatural talents, properties, or qualities
a magic wand; a magic dragon
2. featuring illusions that are usually performed for entertainment
a magic show; a magic trick
3. wonderful, amazing or incredible
a magic moment

Noun
magic (uncountable)

1. supernatural occurrences or feats.
2. an illusion performed to give the appearance of magic or the supernatural.
3. A ritual associated with mysticism.
4. A cause not quite understood. Magic makes the light go on.
5. something spectacular or wonderful.
movie magic
6. The decrypted messages produced by US cryptographers in WWII — it is usually taken to mean '... from Japanese intercepts'. The equivalent in the UK was Ultra, referring to decrypted German traffic.
7. In computer science, a statement or operator used in algorithm design that satisfies any conceivable formal requirement. This is used in some methods of formal specification to allow leaving things unspecified (with the intent of later specification, as magic in this sense cannot be implemented). Also known as miracle

Verb
to magic (magics, magicking, magicked, magicked)

1. (transitive): To cast a magic spell on or at someone or something.