Indian sign

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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.

• curse, hex, hoodoo, jinx, spell

• “Indian sign”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.