aojar

To cast the evil eye on someone — a folk-belief verb tied to mal de ojo superstition, especially about babies and infants thought vulnerable to envious or admiring looks. Mostly heard in rural or older speech, and in set phrases about warding off the aojo with charms like an azabache bracelet.

• Dicen que la vecina aojó al bebé con solo mirarlo. — They say the neighbor gave the baby the evil eye just by looking at him.
• Le pusieron una pulsera roja para que no lo aojaran. — They put a red bracelet on him so he wouldn't be given the evil eye.
• La abuela seguía creyendo que un mal deseo podía aojar a un niño. — The grandmother still believed a bad wish could jinx a child.

Treating aojar as purely archaic — the underlying belief in mal de ojo is still alive in parts of Spain and Latin America, so the verb, while old-fashioned, isn't strictly obsolete the way a dead word would be.

• expression Mal de ojo (aojamiento) — Aojar is the verb form of the widespread Spanish-speaking folk belief in mal de ojo — the evil eye. The belief and the term aojamiento were already being documented in the 15th century, notably in Enrique de Villena's 1425 treatise on the subject, and the superstition remains documented in ethnographic studies of Spain and Latin America today.