1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Abracadabra
ABRACADABRA, a word analogous to Abraxas (q.v.), used as a magical formula by the Gnostics of the sect of Basilides in invoking the aid of beneficent spirits against disease and misfortune. It is found on Abraxas stones which were worn as amulets. Subsequently its use spread beyond the Gnostics, and in modern times it is applied contemptuously (e.g. by the early opponents of the evolution theory) to a conception or hypothesis which purports to be a simple solution of apparently insoluble phenomena. The Gnostic physician Serenus Sammonicus gave precise instructions as to its mystical use in averting or curing agues and fevers generally. The paper on which the word was written had to be folded in the form of a cross, suspended from the neck by a strip of linen so as to rest on the pit of the stomach, worn in this way for nine days, and then, before sunrise, cast behind the wearer into a stream running to the east. The letters were usually arranged as a triangle in one of the following ways:—
| ABRACADABRA | ABRACADABRA |
| ABRACADABR | BRACADABR |
| ABRACADAB | RACADAB |
| ABRACADA | ACADA |
| ABRACAD | CAD |
| ABRACA | A |
| ABRAC | |
| ABRA | |
| ABR | |
| AB | |
| A |