apotropaic, a.
(ˌæpəʊtrəʊˈpeɪɪk)
[f. Gr. ἀποτρόπαιος averting evil (f. ἀποτρέπειν to turn away, avert) + -ic.]
Having or reputed to have the power of averting evil influence or ill luck. Hence apotroˈpaically adv.
| 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 570/1 The sacrifice of the ‘October horse’ in the Campus Martius..had also a naturalistic and apotropaic character. 1904 W. M. Ramsay in Hastings Dict. Bible V. 115/1 The..employment of a bull's head on..sarcophagi..evidently..had at first an apotropaic purpose. 1918 L. Strachey Eminent Victorians 230 The same doctrine led him [sc. Gordon]..to append, in brackets, the apotropaic initials D.V. after every statement in his letters implying futurity. 1945 Proc. Prehist. Soc. XI. 55 In the centre, an apotropaic ornament, a severed head between two volutes. 1956 W. H. Auden Old Man's Road, Apotropaically scowling, a tinker Shuffles past. |