Taboo, among the Polynesians of the South Pacific, a practice of setting aside certain things as forbidden or sacred. "The Tahitians never repair or live in the house of one who is dead; that and everything else belonging to him is tabooed," says Spencer. Taboo, in such a case, is declared by common consent; it may be pronounced by a chief or a priest, or even by a private person, but with less effect. Some words may not be spoken; they are sacred, tabooed. A person may be placed under a ban, declared unclean, tabooed. The term has passed into our English vocabulary, but without the notion of awe. Thus we may taboo politics, or even taboo a person as one not to be mentioned or admitted to social intercourse.