Definition of "dervish"

(Islam) An itinerant Sufi mystic practicing voluntary poverty in devotion to God, and often engaging in ecstatic rituals.

1. (historical) A citizen or inhabitant of Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), an anti-colonial polity in modern Somalia headed by Sufis.

2. (historical) One of the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi of the Sudan, in the 1880s.

3. (by extension) Any irregular guerrilla fighter resembling the Sudanese Mahdi in equipment, uniform, tactics, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The Hejaz war, meanwhile, would be one of dervishes against regular troops.

     1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 104