Adjacent Words

rune definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any character from an ancient Germanic alphabet used in Scandinavia from the 3rd century to the Middle Ages; "each rune had its own magical significance" [syn: rune, runic letter]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Old Norse & Old English r?n mystery, runic character, writing; akin to Old High German r?na secret discussion, Old Irish rún mystery Date: 1690 1. any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from about the 3d to the 13th centuries 2. mystery, magic 3. [Finnish runo, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse r?n] a. a Finnish or Old Norse poem b. poem, song • runic adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 any of the letters of the earliest Germanic alphabet used by Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons from about the 3rd c. and formed by modifying Roman or Greek characters to suit carving. 2 a similar mark of mysterious or magic significance. 3 a Finnish poem or a division of it. Phrases and idioms: rune-staff 1 a magic wand inscribed with runes. 2 a runic calendar. Derivatives: runic adj. Etymology: ON rún (only in pl. rúnar) magic sign, rel. to OE run

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rune Rune (r[udd]n), n. [AS. r[=u]n a rune, a secret, a mystery; akin to Icel. r[=u]n, OHG. & Goth. r[=u]na a secret, secret colloquy, G. & Dan. rune rune, and probably to Gr. 'ereyna^n to search for. Cf. Roun to whisper.] 1. A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general. Note: The Norsemen had a peculiar alphabet, consisting of sixteen letters, or characters, called runes, the origin of which is lost in the remotest antiquity. The signification of the word rune (mystery) seems to allude to the fact that originally only a few were acquainted with the use of these marks, and that they were mostly applied to secret tricks, witchcrafts and enchantments. But the runes were also used in communication by writing. 2. pl. Old Norse poetry expressed in runes. Runes were upon his tongue, As on the warrior's sword. --Longfellow. Rune stone, a stone bearing a runic inscription.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(runes) Runes are letters from an alphabet that was used by people in Northern Europe in former times. They were carved on wood or stone and were believed to have magical powers. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

alchemy, arrowhead, bewitchery, character, charm, conjuration, cuneiform, demotic character, determinative, divination, enchantment, fetishism, glamour, gramarye, grammalogue, hieratic symbol, hieroglyph, hieroglyphic, hieroglyphics, hiragana, hoodoo, ideogram, ideograph, incantation, juju, jujuism, kana, katakana, logogram, logograph, magic, natural magic, necromancy, obeah, ogham, phonetic, phonetic symbol, pictogram, pictograph, poesy, poetry, radical, rhyme, shamanism, shorthand, sorcery, sortilege, spell, spellbinding, spellcasting, sympathetic magic, thaumaturgia, thaumaturgics, thaumaturgism, thaumaturgy, theurgy, vampirism, verse, voodoo, voodooism, wanga, wedge, white magic, witchcraft, witchery, witchwork, wizardry, word letter