ˈdərvish, -ə̄v-, -əiv-, -vēsh sometimes ˈderv- or ˈdeəv- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Turkish derviş, literally, beggar, from Persian darvēsh
1. : a member of any Muslim religious fraternity of monks or mendicants noted for its forms of devotional exercises (as group repetition of religious formulas or concerted bodily movements often leading to a kind of trance or ecstasy) — often used with a qualifier such as howling, whirling, dancing ; compare fakir
2. : something that whirls or dances with or as if with the abandon of a dervish
the most blinding of the snow dervishes that whirled across him — W.V.T.Clark
a very dervish dance of fury — Brendan Behan