mumbo jumbo

Noun

mumbo jumbo (countable and uncountable, plural mumbo jumbos)

1. (historical) A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol.
   • So likewise a day comes when the Runic Thor, with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness; and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawpaw be utterly abolished.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155
2. Any object of superstition; religious words and/or actions which are seen as superstitious or fraudulent.
   • Rev. Quack's healing services are little more than mumbo jumbo.
   • Vera was made to dip her hand into the bird's blood and then make a handprint on a sheet of paper while the witches all chanted some mumbo-jumbo.1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 58
3. (broadly) Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish.
   • Football lingo is mumbo jumbo to me.
   • He escaped from that experience confounded, horrified, and conscious of degradation. Those infernal bandogs of the law had treated him as a piece of insensate property to their drivelling mumbo-jumbo, as if mere contact with it had robbed him of all rights to the dignity and integrity of his own...1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89

   Synonyms:

   absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil