noun. A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion.

noun. One that possesses abundant, often frenzied energy.

noun. A Mohammedan monk, professing poverty, humility, and chastity; a Mohammedan fakir.

noun. A Turkish or Persian monk, especially one who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere life.

noun. One of the fanatical followers of the Mahdi, in the Sudan, in the 1880's.

noun. in modern times, a member of an ascetic Mohammedan sect notable for its devotional exercises, which include energetic chanting or shouting and rhythmic bodily movement, such as whirling, leading to a trance-like state or ecstasy. From these exercises the phrase whirling dervish is derived.

noun. figuratively, a person who whirls or engages in frenzied activity reminiscent of the dervish{3} dancing.

noun. A member of Dervish fraternity of Sufism, known for spinning.

noun. an ascetic Muslim monk; a member of an order noted for devotional exercises involving bodily movements

"Although the word dervish is itself a Perso-Arab-Turkic word, the whirling dervishes did not come into existence until the 1200s in Konya, Turkey, where Jalaluddin Rumi, a Sufi mystic who produced some of the world's most enchanting poetry and literature, came to study and teach."

dervis  dervise  

whirling dervish  

fakeer  fakir  faqir  faquir  

whirler  whirling dervish  

plowboy  

Albigensian  Black Muslim  Catharist  Franciscan  Mohammedan