[f. FETISH + -ISM. Cf. Fr. fétichisme.] The worship of fetishes; an instance of this; the superstition of which this is the characteristic feature.
1801. W. Taylor, in Monthly Mag., XI. 646/2. First he detects every where fetishism, or the worship of tools, like that of Negroes for their kettles.
1846. Grote, Greece, I. xvi. I. 462. Their polytheism (comprising some elements of an original fetichism, in which particular objects had themselves been supposed to be endued with life, volition, and design) recognised agencies of unseen beings identified and confounded with the different localities and departments of the physical world.
1853. C. Kingsley, Hypatia, xxx. 382. Craving after signs and wonders, dabbling in magic, astrology, and barbarian fetichisms.
