marabout
- noun
- /ˈmɛrəˌbu/
:
marabú
- Many marabouts (Islamic scholars) heal with perfumes such as amber and sandalwood, primarily in combination with written Koranic verses.
Examples
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The marabout is a distinctive stork that can often be seen near carcasses in rural Africa.
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Islamic scholars, popularly called marabouts, have served as scribes, interpreted Qur'anic law, and administered legal and psychiatric advice (Rasmussen 1995, 2001).
Academic text (2005) -
Their parents, usually poor, confided them to the holy man, the marabout, convinced that their education would thereafter be in good hands.
Academic text (2004) -
Some people believe diviners gossip too much, so they prefer to see marabouts for similar problems.
Academic text (1999) -
Treatment by marabouts falls in between and thus challenges Western categories of pharmacological medicine and religious ritual.
Academic text (1999) -
Islamic scholars, popularly called marabouts, have comprised a local intelligentsia.
Academic text (1993) -
There exist itinerant marabouts who leave the interior of the country to come to Dakar accompanied by their Talibs.
Academic text (2004) -
Smiths also act as general confidantes of women, who are often afraid or ashamed to confide in marabouts concerning their love preferences and personal problems.
Academic text (1993) -
Some Muslims and Christians (particularly Protestants) follow the "fundamentalist" line established by early missionaries and marabouts.
Academic text (2005) -
Since craftsmen fear the competition of others, both the carpenters and the singers solicit the help of marabouts, learned Muslim men, in order to protect themselves and their works and to ward off evil.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
1
9.9
Large African stork that eats dead animals and has black and white feathers
1
9.6
A large African bird with black and white feathers that eats dead animals and has soft feathers for trims
A large African black-and-white stork that eats dead animals and has soft feathers under its wings used to decorate clothes
Surface Forms
Etymology
Marabout comes from the Arabic word murābiṭ, a name for a holy man, and one idea is that the large African stork was often seen near the graves or shrines of these men, so people gave the bird the same name. The bird's soft underwing feathers then became a fashion trim called 'marabout', so the word now refers to both the big stork and the fluffy feathers used in clothing.