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jinx - 4 dictionary results

jinx

  [jingks]
Use jinx in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person, thing, or influence supposed to bring bad luck.
–verb (used with object)
2. to bring bad luck to; place a jinx on: The strike has jinxed my plans to go to Milwaukee for the weekend.
3. to destroy the point of: His sudden laugh jinxed the host's joke.
Origin:
1910–15, Americanism; perh. < L jynx wryneck (bird used in divination and magic) < Gk íynx
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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jinx   (jĭngks)   
n.  
  1. A person or thing that is believed to bring bad luck.
  2. A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing.
tr.v.   jinxed, jinx·ing, jinx·es
To bring bad luck to.

[Possibly from jynx, wryneck (from its use in witchcraft), from Latin iynx, from Greek iunx, perhaps from iuzein, to call, cry.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Jinx

Jinx\, n. A person, object, influence, or supernatural being which is supposed to bring bad luck or to cause things to go wrong. [Slang]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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jinx  (n.)
1911, Amer.Eng., from 17c. jyng "a charm, a spell," originally "wryneck," a bird used in witchcraft and divination, from L. iynx "wryneck," from Gk. iynx. The verb is 1917 in Amer.Eng., from the noun.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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