conjure

Related to conjure: thesaurus

conjure up

1. Literally, to cause something to appear, as by magic or other supernatural means. A noun or pronoun can be used between "conjure" and "up." The magician wowed the crowd when he waved his hands and seemingly conjured up a rabbit.
2. To locate something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "conjure" and "up." Hang on, let me see if I can conjure up a pen for you. Any luck conjuring up some limes?
3. To evoke thoughts or images of someone or something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "conjure" and "up." We can't name our baby Glinda—that name immediately conjures up images of "The Wizard of Oz"! As an author, your job is to conjure up the action in the reader's mind.
See also: conjure, up

name to conjure with

1. A name that is important or well-known. There are definitely some names to conjure with at the upcoming industry conference!
2. An unusual or interesting name. Englebert Humperdinck is certainly a name to conjure with!
See also: conjure, name
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

conjure someone or something up

 
1. Lit. to make someone or something appear, seemingly by the use of magic. The magician conjured seven white doves up. Then an old wizard conjured up a horse.
2. Fig. to manage to locate someone or something. I think I can conjure a pencil up for you. Do you think you can conjure up a large coffee urn in the next half hour?
3. Fig. to manage to think up or imagine someone or something in one's mind. Can you conjure a vision of grandma up? All I could do was to conjure up happy memeories.
See also: conjure, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

a name to conjure with

mainly BRITISH
1. If you say that someone or something is a name to conjure with, you mean that they are very famous and important. Bugattis, Bentleys, Ferraris — motoring names to conjure with, and all part of a breath-taking display of classic cars. Doris Kearns Goodwin is not a name to conjure with in this country, but in the United States she is a star.
2. If you say that someone or something's name is a name to conjure with, you mean their name is very unusual or funny. Lily's sister, for instance, is Vera Cheeseman. Now there's a name to conjure with. Note: In this expression, the importance and influence associated with a person or thing are regarded as a kind of magical power which you can call on by using their name.
See also: conjure, name
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a name to conjure with

a person who is important within a particular sphere of activity.
The image here is of magically summoning a spirit to do your bidding by invoking a powerful name or using a spell.
1954 Iris Murdoch Under the Net His name, little known to the public, is one to conjure with in Hollywood.
See also: conjure, name
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

a name to ˈconjure with


1 the name of a well-known, very respected and admired person, group or thing in a particular field: My father went to school with Bill Gates — now there’s a name to conjure with!
2 (humorous) used when you mention a name that is difficult to remember or pronounce: The soup was called chlodnik — now there’s a name to conjure with!
See also: conjure, name
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • piece out
  • involve with
  • involve with (someone or something)
  • involved with
  • arrange for
  • arrange for some time
  • arrange some music for
  • back into
  • back into (someone or something)
  • spiffed up
References in periodicals archive
Here in "Po' Sandy," wild lands signify, as they will throughout The Conjure Woman, the promise of freedom.
Other nature: resistance to ecological hegemony in Charles W. Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman
And just as the commercially formulated plastics that Tse uses are typically associated with packing and shipping, her sculpture likewise conjures a sense of work in transit, as if it were continually redefining its ultimate destination or even figuring out whether its field of reference is two- or three-dimensional.
TAKE FIRST
The conjure man has received his own song from the spirit of his father, a song that has a magical quality--the capacity to bind people together.
The Shaman's Apprentice: Ecstasy and Economy in Wilson's Joe Turner
Any poet who can do this has the power to conjure. Jaki Shelton Green just might leave a little goober dust on your doorstep.
Conjure Blues
His use of Brodhead's edition of Chesnutt's conjure tales is a case in point.
Charles W. Chesnutt: A Study of the Short Fiction
From the beginning, he is identified by various names for the trickster, not only PaPa LaBas (derived from Legba) but "noonday HooDoo," "obeah," and "2-headed man." Illuminating the appellation 2-headed man in Mules and Men, Zora Neale Hurston explains that conjure doctors are always called "two-headed" because they have "twice as much sense" (210).
Images of subversion: Ishmael Reed and the hoodoo trickster
Her ability to manipulate reality and her close affinity with the supernatural are qualities that invite a comparison with folk figures such as the shape-shifting trickster or the revered conjure woman.
Authority, multivocality, and the new world order in Gloria Naylor's 'Bailey's Cafe.'
And it is not surprising to those of us who grew up with conjure and conjuring women as part of our youth that only a brilliant present-day black woman's imagination has been able to flesh out the presence of Marie Laveau.
Voodoo Dreams
Not surprisingly perhaps, stories about conjuration have found their most congenial home within the parameters of the folktale, where the conjure woman, whether she is represented as comic or demonic, remains difficult to see.
Recovering the conjure woman: texts and contexts in Gloria Naylor's 'Mama Day.' (Black Women's Culture Issue)
Instead of providing objective, distanced reportage of voodoo and conjure rituals in New Orleans, she focuses her writing on her reaction to the events she is participating in.
"Sis Cat" as ethnographer: self-presentation and self-inscription in Zora Neale Hurston's 'Mules and Men.'
Andrews's assertion that Douglass used the Jenkins character to stress the futility of looking for any kind of external support, including conjure traditions, in the face of slavery's totality and theneed to cultivate an inner strength capable of resisting the overpowering pressures of the system (226-27).
James Corrothers reads a book; or, the lives of Sandy Jenkins
In order to support this view, Callahan analyzes in meticulous detail six important texts - Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman, Toomer's Cane, Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Ellison's Invisible Man, Gaines's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and Walker's Meridian - discussing them as examples of the different ways in which the search for voice is handled by black writers of varying backgrounds and artistic temperaments.
In the African-American Grain: The Pursuit of Voice in Twentieth-Century Black Fiction
(AP) -- A Catholic school in Tennessee has removed the Harry Potter books from its library after the school's priest decided they could cause a reader to conjure evil spirits.
Harry Potter removed from Tennessee Catholic school library
To conjure up means 'to summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic.' To invoke, call forth, put forward, arouse, evoke, stir, raise.
A conjuring
However, Harriet Tubman was a Conjure woman who relied on her dreams and visionary experiences to lead her followers to freedom.
Weiser Publishers