duppy
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9.9
- noun
- /ˈdʌpi/
- Literature
:
duppy
- A duppy, he explained, wouldn't enter a building without first counting all the grains of sand at the door, and, math whiz or no, your average duppy couldn't do that before daybreak, the hour when all duppies are due back at their graves.
- duppy story
She could sing the duppy out of night.
- She could sing the duppy out of night.
Examples
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A duppy by default, he was drowned, but he came out of the sea.
Fiction book (1998) -
And this 'duppy' just got us an audition next week in Melbourne.
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What would this duppy white fella know about soul music?
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Charlotte didn't need to believe the duppy story to check it out.
Fiction book (1998) -
"Duppy" stories hold a special place in Jamaican folk culture.
Academic text (1992) -
In Jamaican folklore, a duppy is believed to be the spirit of a deceased person wandering the earth.
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Children in Jamaica are often told duppy stories to keep them from wandering off at night.
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Many people believe that if you disturb a duppy, it can bring bad luck to you or your family.
Synonyms
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9.3
A spirit worshipped in some Caribbean voodoo traditions
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9.9
A scary monster in Latin American stories that parents say to frighten children
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9.9
A ghost or goblin from Scottish and northern English stories
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9.9
A spirit from Irish stories that can change shape and cause trouble
A scary spirit from Caribbean stories that frightens people
A spirit or natural power in Algonquian culture believed to live in nature
Surface Forms
Etymology
Duppy comes from West African words for spirits and was brought to Jamaica by people taken from West Africa. So a duppy is the Caribbean name for a 'ghost' or 'spirit' that people warn children about.