magus

Noun

magus (plural magi or (rare) maguses)

1. A magician; (derogatory) a conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster.
   • In the middle of the fifth century, Empedocles testified to the vitality of these maguses, who were capable of commanding the winds and of bringing the dead back from Hades and who presented themselves, not as mortals, but as gods.1987, Jean-Pierre Vernant, translated by Anne Marzin, “Greek Religion”, in Mircea Eliade, editor, The Encyclopedia of Religion, volume 6, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Publishing Company; London: Collier...
   • It’s from our venerable maguses Gominik Halvor and his son. They’ve cast the runes for our enterprise.1997, Robert Silverberg, Sorcerers of Majipoor (The Majipoor Cycle), New York, N.Y.: HarperPrism, →ISBN, page 435
2. A Zoroastrian priest.
   • Court astrologers, who were drawn from the race of the Magi, were among those that formed the royal court [...]1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 230
   • Mocenigo / [satisfied at last] / Good! Now, tell me, Prior, / What is Rome’s greatest fear? What gives the Pope / More night-mares than bad sausage? / Prior Gabrielli / Heresy! / The rendering of the seamless robe of truth. / This rabble of mountebanks and maguses / Who shout reform, defile the...1969, Morris L[anglo] West, The Heretic: A Play in Three Acts […] , New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, Inc., →LCCN, pages 11–12