conjure

See also: conjuré

English

Etymology

From Middle English conjuren, from Old French conjurer, from Latin coniūrō (“I swear together; conspire”), from con- (“with, together”) + iūro (“I swear or take an oath”).

Pronunciation

• Senses relating to magic tricks and imagination:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/, /ˈkɒn.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.d͡ʒɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ʌndʒə(ɹ), -ɒndʒə(ɹ)
• Senses relating to religious or solemn actions:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒʊə(ɹ)/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒʊɚ/

Verb

conjure (third-person singular simple present conjures, present participle conjuring, simple past and past participle conjured)

1. (intransitive) To perform magic tricks.

   He started conjuring at the age of 15, and is now a famous stage magician.

2. (transitive) To summon (a devil, etc.) using supernatural power.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To practice black magic.
   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:

     "Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold."

4. (transitive, archaic) To enchant or bewitch.
5. (transitive) To evoke. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
6. (transitive) To imagine or picture in the mind.
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 51:

     There was a deep silence, while Helen's vivid fancy conjured up the scene. She knew the small neat room—she had been with Mrs. Palmer to see it; the cheerful garden filled with flowers, the hum of the distant play-ground, the rosy clusters of an acacia-tree, whose branches almost came in at the window;...

   Synonyms: envisage, imagine, picture, visualize

7. (transitive, archaic) To make an urgent request to; to appeal to or beseech.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 2:

     I conjure you, let him know, / Whate'er was done against him, Cato did it.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Stammering out something, I knew not what, I rolled away from him against the wall, and then conjured him, whoever or whatever he might be, to keep quiet, and let me get up and light the lamp again.

8. (intransitive, obsolete) To conspire or plot.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons / Conjured against the Highest.

Derived terms

• conjurer / conjuror
• conjure up
• conjure with
• name to conjure with
• word to conjure with

 

Translations

to perform magic tricks

• Bulgarian: правя магии
• Danish: trylle
• Dutch: goochelen (nl)
• Finnish: taikoa (fi)
• German: zaubern (de)
• Ingrian: sanata
• Russian: пока́зывать фо́кусы (pokázyvatʹ fókusy)
• Serbo-Croatian: čarati (sh)
• Ukrainian: показувати фокуси (pokazuvaty fokusy)

to summon using supernatural power

• Bulgarian: викам духове
• Dutch: oproepen (nl), ontbieden (nl)
• Finnish: noitua (fi)
• Georgian: სულის გამოძახება (sulis gamoʒaxeba)
• German: herbeirufen (de)
• Latin: accio, ēliciō, evoco, invoco
• Maori: tuhi
• Middle English: conjuren
• Persian: احضار کردن (fa) (ehzâr kardan)
• Portuguese: evocar (pt), invocar (pt), convocar (pt), conjurar (pt)
• Russian: вызыва́ть ду́хов (vyzyvátʹ dúxov)
• Ukrainian: викликати (uk) (vyklykaty)
• Welsh: consurio (cy), dewinio (cy)

to practice black magic

• Dutch: zwarte magie beoefenen
• Finnish: harjoittaa noituutta
• Ingrian: sanata
• Latgalian: raganēt, čapasluot
• Latvian: burt (lv)
• Middle English: conjuren
• Russian: колдова́ть (ru) (koldovátʹ), занима́ться ма́гией (zanimátʹsja mágijej)
• Serbo-Croatian: čarati (sh)
• Ukrainian: чаклувати (čakluvaty), заклинати (zaklynaty)

to evoke

• Bulgarian: призовавам (bg) (prizovavam)
• Dutch: oproepen (nl)
• Finnish: herättää (fi)
• German: hervorrufen (de), heraufbeschwören (de)
• Persian: احضار کردن (fa) (ehzâr kardan)
• Russian: вызыва́ть (ru) (vyzyvátʹ), призыва́ть (ru) (prizyvátʹ)
• Ukrainian: викликати (uk) (vyklykaty)

to imagine or picture in the mind

• Bulgarian: въобразявам си (vǎobrazjavam si)
• Dutch: zich inbeelden
• Finnish: kuvitella (fi)
• German: sich einbilden
• Maori: pohewa
• Russian: представля́ть (ru) (predstavljátʹ), вообража́ть (ru) (voobražátʹ)
• Ukrainian: викликати (uk) (vyklykaty) (в уяві)
• Urdu: تصوّر میں لانا

to make an urgent request to; to appeal

• Bulgarian: умолявам (bg) (umoljavam), апелирам (bg) (apeliram)
• Dutch: een dringend verzoek indienen
• Finnish: vedota (fi), vannottaa
• German: bitten (de), anflehen (de), ersuchen (de)
• Hungarian: kér (hu)
• Middle English: conjuren
• Russian: умоля́ть (ru) (umoljátʹ)
• Ukrainian: заклинати (zaklynaty), закликати (uk) (zaklykaty), благати (uk) (blahaty)

Noun

conjure (uncountable)

1. (African-American Vernacular) The practice of magic; hoodoo; conjuration.

Derived terms

• conjureman
• conjurewoman

 

Related terms

• conjuration

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ʒyʁ/

Verb

conjure

1. inflection of conjurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Middle English

Verb

conjure

1. Alternative form of conjuren

Portuguese

Verb

conjure

1. inflection of conjurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

conjure

1. inflection of conjurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative