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taboo

 - 7 dictionary results

ta⋅boo

  [tuh-boo, ta-] adjective, noun, plural -boos, verb, -booed, -boo⋅ing.
–adjective
1. proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable: taboo words.
2. (among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific) separated or set apart as sacred; forbidden for general use; placed under a prohibition or ban.
–noun
3. a prohibition or interdiction of anything; exclusion from use or practice.
4. (among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific)
a. the system, practice, or act whereby things are set apart as sacred, forbidden for general use, or placed under a prohibition or interdiction.
b. the condition of being so set apart, forbidden, or interdicted.
5. exclusion from social relations; ostracism.
–verb (used with object)
6. to put under a taboo; prohibit or forbid.
7. to ostracize (a person, group, etc.).
Use taboo in a Sentence
Also, tabu.

Origin:
1770–80; < Tongan tapu or Fijian tabu forbidden, prohibited

Synonyms:
1. prohibited, banned. 3. ban, proscription, embargo. 6. See forbid.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To taboo
ta·boo also ta·bu   (tə-bōō', tā-)   
n.   pl. ta·boos also ta·bus

  1. A ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion.

    1. A prohibition, especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands, excluding something from use, approach, or mention because of its sacred and inviolable nature.

    2. An object, a word, or an act protected by such a prohibition.

adj.  Excluded or forbidden from use, approach, or mention: a taboo subject.
tr.v.   ta·booed also ta·bued, ta·boo·ing also ta·bu·ing, ta·boos also ta·bus
To exclude from use, approach, or mention; place under taboo.

[Tongan tabu, under prohibition.]
Word History: Among the many discoveries of Captain James Cook was a linguistic one, the term taboo. In a journal entry from 1777, Cook says this word "has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.... When any thing is forbidden to be eat, or made use of, they say, that it is taboo." Cook was in the Friendly Islands (now Tonga) at the time, so even though similar words occur in other Polynesian languages, the form taboo from Tongan tabu is the one we have borrowed. The Tongans used tabu as an adjective. Cook, besides borrowing the word into English, also made it into a noun referring to the prohibition itself and a verb meaning "to make someone or something taboo." From its origins in Polynesia the word taboo has traveled as widely as Cook himself and is now used throughout the English-speaking world.
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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Cultural Dictionary

taboo

A descriptive term for words, objects, actions, or people that are forbidden by a group or culture. The expression comes from the religion of islanders of the South Pacific.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

taboo 
1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"), "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed," explained in some Englishsources as being from Tongan (Polynesian language of the island of Tonga) ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark" + bu "especially." But this may be folk etymology, as linguists in the Pacific have reconstructed an irreducable Proto-Polynesian *tapu, from Proto-Oceanic *tabu "sacred, forbidden" (cf. Hawaiian kapu "taboo, prohibition, sacred, holy, consecrated;" Tahitian tapu "restriction, sacred;" Maori tapu "be under ritual restriction, prohibited"). The noun and verb are Eng. innovations first recorded in Cook's book.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 1ta·boo
Variant: also ta·bu /t&-'bü, ta-/
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural taboos also tabus
1 : a prohibition in some cultures against touching, saying, or doing something for fear of immediate harm from a mysterious superhuman force
2 : a prohibition imposed by social custom or as a protective measure taboo —Phyllis Grosskurth>
3 : belief in taboos —taboo also tabu adjective

Main Entry: 2taboo
Variant: also tabu
Function: transitive verb
: to avoid or ban as taboo tabooed sexualpractices>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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taboo ta·boo or ta·bu (tə-b&oomacr;', tā-)
n. pl. ta·boos or ta·bus
A ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. adj.
Excluded or forbidden from use, approach, or mention.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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