Brewer's: Tabooed

Devoted, Forbidden. This is a Polynesian term, and means consecrated or set apart. Like the Greek anathema, the Latin sacer, the French sacre, etc., the word has a double meaning - one to consecrate, and one to incur the penalty of violating the consecration. (See Tapu.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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