dervish

der·vish  (dûrvsh)

n.

1. A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion.

2. One that possesses abundant, often frenzied energy: "[She] is a dervish of unfocused energy, an accident about to happen" (Jane Gross).

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[Turkish dervi, mendicant, from Persian darvsh.]

Word History: The word dervish calls to mind the phrases howling dervish and whirling dervish. Certainly there are dervishes whose religious exercises include making loud howling noises or whirling rapidly to induce a dizzy, mystical state. But a dervish is really the Muslim equivalent of a monk or friar, for the Persian word darvsh, the ultimate source of dervish, means "religious mendicant." The word is first recorded in English in 1585.

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dervish

Noun

a member of a Muslim religious order noted for a frenzied, ecstatic, whirling dance [Persian darvīsh mendicant monk]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

dervish - an ascetic Muslim monk; a member of an order noted for devotional exercises involving bodily movements fakeer, fakir, faqir, faquir - a Muslim or Hindu mendicant monk who is regarded as a holy man whirler, whirling dervish - a dervish whose actions include ecstatic dancing and whirling