Curse

Curse

A curse (also called a jinx, or execration) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, "curse" may refer to a wish that harm or hurt will be inflicted by any supernatural powers, such as a spell, a prayer, an imprecation, an execration, magic, witchcraft, God, a natural force, or a spirit. In many belief systems, the curse itself (or accompanying ritual) is considered to have some causative force in the result.

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Famous quotes containing the word curse:

    “And what will you leave to your own mother dear,
    Edward, Edward?
    And what will ye leave to your own mother dear,
    My dear son, now tell me, O?”
    “The curse of hell from me shall ye bear,
    Mother, mother;
    Unknown. Edward (l. 49–54)

    An orphan’s curse would drag to hell
    A spirit from on high;
    But oh! more horrible than that
    Is a curse in a dead man’s eye!
    Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)

    There are lone figures armed only with ideas, sometimes with just one idea, who blast away whole epochs in which we are enwrapped like mummies. Some are powerful enough to resurrect the dead. Some steal on us unawares and put a spell over us which it takes centuries to throw off. Some put a curse on us, for our stupidity and inertia, and then it seems as if God himself were unable to lift it.
    Henry Miller (1891–1980)