Incubus

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Incubus \In"cu*bus\, n.; pl. E. {Incubuses}, L. {Incubi}. [L.,
     the nightmare. Cf. {Incubate}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A demon; a fiend; a lascivious spirit, supposed to have
        sexual intercourse with women by night. --Tylor.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              The devils who appeared in the female form were
              generally called succubi; those who appeared like
              men incubi, though this distinction was not always
              preserved.                            --Lecky.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Med.) The nightmare. See {Nightmare}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Such as are troubled with incubus, or witch-ridden,
              as we call it.                        --Burton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Any oppressive encumbrance or burden; anything that
        prevents the free use of the faculties.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Debt and usury is the incubus which weighs most
              heavily on the agricultural resources of Turkey.
                                                    --J. L.
                                                    Farley.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  incubus
       n 1: a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have
            sexual intercourse with sleeping women
       2: a situation resembling a terrifying dream [syn: {nightmare}]
       3: someone who depresses or worries others
       [also: {incubi} (pl)]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  86 Moby Thesaurus words for "incubus":
     Baba Yaga, Dracula, Frankenstein, Lilith, Wolf-man, afreet,
     bad dream, bale, barghest, bogey, bogeyman, brown study, bugaboo,
     bugbear, burden, burdening, burthen, cacodemon, cargo, charge,
     charging, cumber, cumbrance, daeva, daydream, deadweight, demon,
     devil, drag, dream, dybbuk, evil spirit, fee-faw-fum, fiend,
     fiend from hell, freight, frightener, genie, genius, ghost, ghoul,
     gyre, handicap, hellion, hobgoblin, holy terror, horror,
     incumbency, jinni, jinniyeh, lading, lamia, load, loading,
     millstone, monster, nightmare, ogre, ogress, oppression, overload,
     overtaxing, overweighting, phantom, pipe dream, pressure, rakshasa,
     revenant, reverie, saddling, satan, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer,
     shedu, specter, succubus, superincumbency, surcharge, taxing,
     terror, the undead, vampire, vision, werewolf, yogini
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  INCUBUS, n.  One of a race of highly improper demons who, though
  probably not wholly extinct, may be said to have seen their best
  nights.  For a complete account of _incubi_ and _succubi_, including
  _incubae_ and _succubae_, see the _Liber Demonorum_ of Protassus
  (Paris, 1328), which contains much curious information that would be
  out of place in a dictionary intended as a text-book for the public
  schools.
      Victor Hugo relates that in the Channel Islands Satan himself --
  tempted more than elsewhere by the beauty of the women, doubtless --
  sometimes plays at _incubus_, greatly to the inconvenience and alarm
  of the good dames who wish to be loyal to their marriage vows,
  generally speaking.  A certain lady applied to the parish priest to
  learn how they might, in the dark, distinguish the hardy intruder from
  their husbands.  The holy man said they must feel his brown for horns;
  but Hugo is ungallant enough to hint a doubt of the efficacy of the
  test.