Sorcery

4 definitions found

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

  Sorcery \Sor"cer*y\, n.; pl. {Sorceries}. [OE. sorcerie, OF.
     sorcerie, fr. OF. & F. sorcier a sorcerer, LL. sortiarius,
     fr. L. sors, sortis, a lot, decision by lot, fate, destiny.
     See {Sort}, n.]
     Divination by the assistance, or supposed assistance, of evil
     spirits, or the power of commanding evil spirits; magic;


     necromancy; witchcraft; enchantment.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Adder's wisdom I have learned,
           To fence my ear against thy sorceries.   --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sorcery
       n : the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or
           evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world
           [syn: {black magic}, {black art}, {necromancy}]

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

  75 Moby Thesaurus words for "sorcery":
     Black Mass, Prospero, Satanism, airiness, appearance, astrology,
     augury, bewitchment, black art, black magic, chthonian worship,
     clairvoyance, crystal ball, crystal gazing, delusiveness, demonism,
     demonography, demonolatry, demonology, demonomancy, demonomy,
     demonry, devil lore, devil worship, devilry, diablerie, diabolism,
     diabology, diabolology, divination, divining, enchantment,
     fallaciousness, false appearance, false light, false show,
     falseness, fortunetelling, haruspication, haruspicy, horoscopy,
     idealization, illusionism, illusionist, illusiveness,
     immateriality, incantation, magic, magic act, magic show, magician,
     mantic, mantology, necromancy, palm-reading, palmistry,
     prestidigitation, pythonism, seeming, semblance, shamanism, show,
     simulacrum, sleight of hand, sorcerer, sortilege,
     specious appearance, thaumaturgy, unactuality, unreality,
     unsubstantiality, white magic, witchcraft, witching, wizardry
  
  

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

  SORCERY, n.  The ancient prototype and forerunner of political
  influence.  It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes was
  punished by torture and death.  Augustine Nicholas relates that a poor
  peasant who had been accused of sorcery was put to the torture to
  compel a confession.  After enduring a few gentle agonies the
  suffering simpleton admitted his guilt, but naively asked his
  tormentors if it were not possible to be a sorcerer without knowing
  it.