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Mara
Definitions
- 1 A Maran Australian Aboriginal prefixing language spoken in southeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
- 2 A female given name from Hebrew. rare
"Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me."
- 3 A surname from Irish.
- 4 The Hindu god of death; opposite of Kama. Hinduism
- 5 The Slavic goddess of winter and death; Marena or Marzanna.
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- 6 A river in Tanzania and Kenya.
"In the dry season, when the Mara becomes narrower and shallower, certain stretches of it become especially thick with hippos—and their dung."
- 7 The Buddhist demon who tempts people away from enlightenment
- 1 A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in Germanic and particularly Scandinavian folklore; a female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions. European
"The corpus of related texts tells us that within rural society it was not improbable for your neighbour's envy of your fine cattle to take the form of a mara."
- 2 A type of god that prevents accomplishment or success.
"Mara means demon, or demonic influence, that hinders the practice of virtue. It may be an external spirit or an aspect of our own imperfect condition. All hindrances on the path to liberation are subsumed under the four maras. The first mara is the mara of the aggregates.[…]The second of the maras is the mara of the afflictions, which are the same as the afflictive obstructions. They are identified as a mara because they precipitate all harmful actions, from malicious gossip to murder.[…]The third mara is Devaputra, literally "son of a god," an external troublemaker who specializes in interfering with beings who are endeavoring to achieve something positive.[…]The last mara is the mara of death."
- 3 Any caviid rodent of the genus Dolichotis, common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina.
"Maras have a white patch of fur on the rump that they flash when running, an adaptation they share with several species of deer and antelopes."
- 4 A Latin American criminal gang. US
- 5 A member of a predominantly agricultural tribe of southern Assam and western Burma.
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- 6 hare-like rodent of the Pampas of Argentina wordnet
- 7 Any malicious or evil spirit.
"The mara is the spirit that causes illness, accidents, and mishaps. The only protection against it is another mara who befriends a person or a group. A mara who becomes friendly is called a gunik. This transformation occurs when a mara comes to a person in a dream and states a desire to be friendly. But there are deceitful maras who pretend to be friendly, yet will betray the person who trusts them."
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Norse mara, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ, cognate with Old English mare or mære. Doublet of mare. See nightmare.
Borrowed from Sanskrit मार (māra).
From New World Spanish mara.
From Hebrew מָרָא (mara, “bitterness”), derived from Hebrew מַר (mar, “bitter”). The modern given name may also be shortened from Maria or Tamara.
From O'Mara, a variant of O'Meara.
From Sanskrit मर (mara), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”). Doublet of mortality.
See also for "mara"
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Unscramble this word: mara