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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Incantation \In'can*ta"tion\, noun [L. incantatio, fr. incantare to chant a magic formula over one: cf. F. incantation. See {Enchant}.]
1. The act or process of using formulas sung or spoken, with occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or affecting other magical results; enchantment. ''Mysterious ceremony and incantation.'' --Burke.
2. A formula of words used as above.
3. The repetitive invoking of old sayings, or emitting a wordy discourse with little or no meaning, to avoid serious discussion; obfuscation; as, to defend one's views with empty incantations. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
incantation
noun: a ritual recitation of words or sounds believed to have a magical effect [syn: {conjuration}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
22 Moby Thesaurus words for "incantation": abracadabra, bewitchment, conjuration, conjurement, devil, enchantment, evocation, exorcisation, exorcism, exsufflation, hocus-pocus, invocation, magic formula, magic words, mumbo jumbo, necromancy, open sesame, rune, sorcery, witchcraft, witchery, wizardry
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
incantation n. Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that one must mutter at a system to attain a desired result. Not used of passwords or other explicit security features. Especially used of tricks that are so poorly documented that they must be learned from a {wizard}. "This compiler normally locates initialized data in the data segment, but if you {mutter} the right incantation they will be forced into text space."
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
incantation Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that one must mutter at a system to attain a desired result. Not used of passwords or other explicit security features. Especially used of tricks that are so poorly documented that they must be learned from a {wizard}. "This compiler normally locates initialised data in the data segment, but if you {mutter} the right incantation they will be forced into text space."
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