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Taboo   /tæbˈu/   Listen
Taboo

noun
(Written also tabu)
1.
A prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature.  Synonym: tabu.
2.
An inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion.  Synonym: tabu.
adjective
(Written also tabu and tapu)
1.
Excluded from use or mention.  Synonyms: forbidden, out, prohibited, proscribed, tabu, verboten.  "In our house dancing and playing cards were out" , "A taboo subject"
2.
Forbidden to profane use especially in South Pacific islands.  Synonym: tabu.
verb
(past & past part. tabooed; pres. part. tabooing)  (Written also tabu)
1.
Declare as sacred and forbidden.





WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Taboo" Quotes from Famous Books



... misery and ignorance covered over and clamped down by a taboo of silence, imposed by the horrible superstition of sex-prudery! George went out from the doctor's office trembling with excitement over this situation. Oh, why had not some one warned him in time? Why didn't the doctors and the teachers lift up ...
— Damaged Goods - A novelization of the play "Les Avaries" • Upton Sinclair
... the sun. Arrived at the house the Rice-child was welcomed by the women of the family, and laid, cradle and all, on a new sleepingmat with pillows at the head. After that the farmer's wife was instructed to observe certain rules of taboo for three days, the rules being in many respects identical with those which have to be observed for three days after the birth of a real child. Something of the same tender care which is thus bestowed ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer
... of this preliminary business is nauseating, and in real sporting circles it is taboo as a topic of conversation. No wonder The Times devoted a leading article to the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, January 28th, 1920 • Various
... stranger spoke again, still more at sea. "And are there any special ceremonies to be gone through on taking up lodgings?" he asked quite gravely. "Any religious rites, I mean to say? Any poojah or so forth? That is," he went on, as Philip's smile broadened, "is there any taboo to be removed or appeased before I can take up ...
— The British Barbarians • Grant Allen
... significance (Petronius Arbiter) or for their anthropological interest as the Alf Laylah. But the public print which deals, however primly and decently, piously and unctuously, with sexual and inter-sexual relations, usually held to be of the Alekta or taboo'd subjects, is the real perverter of conduct, the polluter of mental purity, the corrupter-general of society. Amongst savages and barbarians the comparatively unrestrained intercourse between men and women relieves the brain through the ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton


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