Find the word definition

Crossword clues for occult

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
occult
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
faecal
▪ In a recent study colonoscopy was performed on 210 asymptomatic subjects aged 50-75 years with negative faecal occult bloods.
▪ This may explain the predominance of rectosigmoid cancers detected by faecal occult blood testing.
▪ Whether this approach offers advantages over faecal occult blood testing remains to be established.
■ NOUN
blood
▪ These subjects had an examination for evaluation of occult blood, positive stools or for screening for colon cancer, or both.
▪ Faecal occult blood studies have also uncovered previously unrecognised cases of ulcerative colitis.
▪ Faecal occult blood testing was not done.
▪ In a recent study colonoscopy was performed on 210 asymptomatic subjects aged 50-75 years with negative faecal occult bloods.
▪ This may explain the predominance of rectosigmoid cancers detected by faecal occult blood testing.
▪ Whether this approach offers advantages over faecal occult blood testing remains to be established.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It was not associated with the occult until the eighteenth century at the earliest.
▪ Though once cloaked in the trappings of the occult, conversations with local psychics suggest a slightly more psychotherapeutic approach.
▪ Throughout his life he maintained an interest in the occult.
▪ Whereas practitioners of the occult would explain everything by magic, modern science has recognized the limitations of its knowledge.
II.adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
occult beliefs
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Behavioral technology does not escape as easily as physical and biological technology because it threatens too many occult qualities.
▪ That they may also be interested in pursuing their aims by occult means should afford no surprise.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Occult

Occult \Oc*cult"\,

  1. [L. occultus, p. p. of occulere to cover up, hide; ob (see Ob-) + a root pro

  2. akin to E. hell: cf. F. occulte.] Hidden from the eye or the understanding; invisible; secret; concealed; unknown.

    It is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.
    --I. Taylor.

    Occult line (Geom.), a line drawn as a part of the construction of a figure or problem, but not to appear in the finished plan.

    Occult qualities, those qualities whose effects only were observed, but the nature and relations of whose productive agencies were undetermined; -- so called by the schoolmen.

    Occult sciences, those sciences of the Middle Ages which related to the supposed action or influence of occult qualities, or supernatural powers, as alchemy, magic, necromancy, and astrology.

Occult

Occult \Oc*cult"\, v. t. To eclipse; to hide from sight.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
occult

1530s, "secret, not divulged," from Middle French occulte and directly from Latin occultus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of occulere "cover over, conceal," from ob "over" (see ob-) + a verb related to celare "to hide," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). Meaning "not apprehended by the mind, beyond the range of understanding" is from 1540s. The association with the supernatural sciences (magic, alchemy, astrology, etc.) dates from 1630s.

Wiktionary
occult
  1. 1 (senseid en medicine) (lb en medicine) secret; hidden from general knowledge; undetected. 2 Related to the occult; pertaining to mysticism, magic, or astrology. 3 esoteric. n. (qualifier: usually with '''the''') supernatural affairs. v

  2. 1 (context transitive astronomy English) To cover or hide from view. 2 (context transitive rare English) To dissimulate, conceal, or obfuscate.

WordNet
occult
  1. adj. hidden and difficult to see; "an occult fracture"; "occult blood in the stool"

  2. having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; "mysterious symbols"; "the mystical style of Blake"; "occult lore"; "the secret learning of the ancients" [syn: mysterious, mystic, mystical, secret, orphic]

occult
  1. n. supernatural forces and events and beings collectively; "She doesn't believe in the supernatural" [syn: supernatural]

  2. occult practices and techniques; "he is a student of the occult" [syn: occult arts]

  3. v. cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention; "The Sun eclipses the moon today"; "Planets and stars often are occulted by other celestial bodies" [syn: eclipse]

  4. become concealed or hidden from view or have its light extinguished; "The beam of light occults every so often"

  5. hide from view; "The lids were occulting her eyes"

Wikipedia
Occult (disambiguation)

Occult refers to secret or hidden knowledge, usually of a mystical nature. This may also refer to:

  • occult (medicine), a disease or process that is not accompanied by readily discernible signs or symptoms (e.g. fecal occult blood, blood in the feces that is not visibly apparent)

  • Occult (film), a Japanese horror film
  • Doctor Occult, a DC Comics magic-using detective character
  • Occult, alias of the Marvel Comics character Peepers
  • occult, the act of astronomical occultation
  • occult, a local term for the transgender community in Myanmar
Occult (film)

Occult ("Okaruto") is a 2009 J-Horror, "found footage" film in the form of a documentary. The movie was written and directed by Kôji Shiraishi.

Occult

The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural.

It also describes a number of magical organizations or orders, the teachings and practices taught by them, and to a large body of current and historical literature and spiritual philosophy related to this subject.

Usage examples of "occult".

I was a confirmed agnostic and avowed disbeliever in all things spiritual and occult.

For if they were, as we and other researchers believe, collectors of esoteric and alchemical knowledge, then any Templar survival points to some kind of continuation of great secrets through an occult tradition that may still exist to this day.

Inspired, no doubt, by the mysterious daily production of the information and by the aura of sorcery and the occult that has always enveloped cryptology, he called it magic.

First, saved from waters of old Nile, among bulrushes, a bed of fasciated wattles: at last the cavity of a mountain, an occulted sepulchre amid the conclamation of the hillcat and the ossifrage.

Conceivably, some enchantment in the chant of crystal, some oblique spell zinging off the obliques, something occult in the dark occlusions had laid hands upon his eldritch senses and dulled them, lulled them, culled them, gulled them.

Bragadin, who had the weakness to believe in the occult sciences, told me one day that, for a young man of my age, he thought my learning too extensive, and that he was certain I was the possessor of some supernatural endowment.

As soon as we were alone, the officer, who was a man of honour and of much sense, in spite of his belief in astrology and the occult sciences, said that he thought me looking rather melancholy, and that if my sadness had any connection with the fair Roman, he warned me to think no more of her, unless I had resolved to ask her hand in marriage.

Possano, who had to reply to questions, of the most occult nature, and, not knowing anything about the subject, made the most ridiculous mistakes.

Upen-dranath Banerjee, who hardly believed in the possibility of such occult phenomena, had gone to the terrace with a lantern and a lathi to find the culprit.

A general belief prevailed among Christians that the Jewish rabbins were acquainted with the occult sciences, and particularly with the cabalistical art.

Islam, occult rabbinical doctrine, the vast embroidered mist of precepts and dreams.

The Apocalypse, that sublime Kabalistic and prophetic Summary of all the occult figures, divides its images into three Septenaries, after each of which there is silence in Heaven.

The conversation turned on magic and the occult sciences, in, which Casanova was an adept, as the reader of the Memoirs will remember, and the count took a fancy to the charlatan.

From the preserved caimans grinning toothily at him atop rustic shelves to the bottles of unidentifiable solutions that glistened beneath, the outer room was a cornucopia of traditional folk medicine ingredients and occult appurtenances.

Renowned in occult circles throughout Europe, he had achieved successes in every type of mediumistic endeavor, from levitation to clairvoyance, from telepathy and telekinesis to the various forms of spirit evocation and ectoplasmic materialization.