Indian sign

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English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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Indian sign (plural Indian signs)

  1. (idiomatic, dated, mildly offensive) A curse causing loss of will power or persistent bad luck.
    • 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 12, in The Little Nugget:
      "You certainly are my jinx, sonny. You have hung the Indian sign on me all right."
    • 1921, Arthur B. Reeve, chapter 6, in The Film Mystery:
      "We have been jinxed with a vengeance. Some one has held the Indian sign on us for sure."
    • 1947, Dark Passage (motion picture), Warner Brothers:
      Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart): Nah, I've got the Indian sign on me. It seems I can't win.
    • 1996, Mario Puzo, The Last Don, →ISBN, page 83:
      "You're the only woman who ever had the Indian sign on me. I married late and I know I'll never marry again."
    • 2018 June 25, David Hytner, “Mikel aiming to turn tables 13 years after Messi took his Golden Ball”, in The Guardian:
      Argentina have held an Indian sign over Nigeria at World Cups going back to 1994, when the African nation first qualified.

Synonyms

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References

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