necromancy

3 definitions found

necromancy - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Necromancy \Nec"ro*man`cy\, n. [OE. nigromaunce, nigromancie,
     OF. nigromance, F. n['e]cromance, n['e]cromancie, from L.
     necromantia, Gr. ?; nekro`s a dead body (akin to L. necare to
     kill, Skr. na[,c] to perish, vanish) + ? divination, fr. ?
     diviner, seer, akin to E. mania. See Mania, and cf.
     Internecine, Noxious. The old spelling is due to
     confusion with L. niger black. Hence the name black art.]
     The art of revealing future events by means of a pretended
     communication with the dead; the black art; hence, magic in
     general; conjuration; enchantment. See Black art.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           This palace standeth in the air,
           By necromancy plac[`e]d there.           --Drayton.
     [1913 Webster]

necromancy - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  necromancy
      n 1: the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or
           evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world
           [syn: sorcery, black magic, black art, necromancy]
      2: conjuring up the dead, especially for prophesying

necromancy - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "necromancy":
     alchemy, bewitchery, bewitchment, charm, divination, enchantment,
     fetishism, glamour, gramarye, hoodoo, juju, jujuism, magic,
     mediumism, natural magic, obeah, rune, seance, shamanism, sitting,
     sorcery, sortilege, spell, spellbinding, spellcasting, spirit,
     spiritism, spiritualism, sympathetic magic, thaumaturgia,
     thaumaturgics, thaumaturgism, thaumaturgy, theurgy, vampirism,
     voodoo, voodooism, wanga, white magic, witchcraft, witchery,
     witchwork, wizardry