Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In West Africa, the sassy-bark: see Erythrophleum. The name is probably due to the fact that the tree enters into the fetish worship and ordeals of the natives.
  • noun A charm or amulet; a fetish.
  • noun Same as gru-gru.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An African amulet, talisman or charm. Same as gree-gree

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an African amulet
  • noun tropical American feather palm having a swollen spiny trunk and edible nuts

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Nor do they employ skilled physicians to any considerable extent, especially in the early stages of their illness, for, inheriting from their African ancestry a belief in the potency of gri-gri charms

    The American Negro: What He Was, What He Is, and What He May Become: A Critical and Practical Discussion 1901

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights, Volume 2. Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterward that "gri-gri" meant "gray-gray," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights Gilbert Parker 1897

  • She called him Gri-Gri from the first, but they knew only long afterwards that "gri-gri" meant "grey-grey," to signify that she called him after his grizzled hairs.

    Northern Lights, Complete Gilbert Parker 1897

  • Moronval, who placed no faith in the _gri-gri_, presented his bill -- and such a bill!

    Jack 1877 Alphonse Daudet 1868

  • Same as above, though for slingshot toproping with the gri-gri, the palm-down is fine, too.

    unknown title 2009

  • Locking up - both the gri-gri and cinch did just fine.

    unknown title 2009

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