angel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ānʹjəl
ipa: /ˈeɪn.d͡ʒəl/
rhymes: -eɪndʒəl
ipa: /ˈeɪn.d͡ʒɛl/
enpr: ănʹjəl
ipa: /ˈæn.d͡ʒəl/
Forms: form: angels
form: Angel
form: angell
Etymology: Two Baroque angels from southern Germany, from the mid-18th century
From Middle English angel, aungel, ængel, engel, from Old English anġel, ænġel, enġel, enċġel (“angel, messenger”), from Proto-West Germanic *angil, borrowed from Latin angelus, itself from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”); and also in part from Anglo-Norman angele, angle, from the same Latin source. The religious sense of the Greek word first appeared in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, “messenger”) or יהוה מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ YHWH, “messenger of YHWH”). Doublet of Angelus.
Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of the Seven churches of Asia in Revelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.
Senses: examples: text: The dear good angel of the Spring, / The nightingale.
ref: 1641, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd:
text: There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to be angels. Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though.
ref: 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 50:
glosses: An incorporeal and holy or semidivine messenger from a deity or other divine entity, traditionally depicted as a youthful, winged figure in flowing robes.
qualifier: Abrahamic religion
glosses: One of the lowest order of such beings, below virtues.
examples: text: Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life.
ref: 2014 August 25, John Eligon, “Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: A person having qualities traditionally attributed to angels.
Someone who is pure or innocent.
examples: text: Thanks for making me breakfast in bed, you little angel.
glosses: A person having qualities traditionally attributed to angels.
Someone who is kind or selfless.
glosses: A person having qualities traditionally attributed to angels.
Someone, especially a woman or child, having youthful, wholesome, or radiant beauty.
examples: text: Diſpaire thy Charme, / And let the Angell whom thou ſtill haſt ſeru’d / Tell thee, Macduffe was from his Mothers womb / Vntimely ript.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene viii], page 151, column 1, lines 13–14:
glosses: Attendant spirit; genius; demon.
examples: text: An apostle, or angel, or bishop, as he is now called, resided with a college of presbyters about him, in every considerable city of the Roman empire; to that angel or bishop, was committed the pastoral care of all the Christian in the city and its suburbs, extending as far on all sides as the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate extended;
ref: 1817, Thomas Stackhouse, A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved by G. Gleig, page 504:
text: […] the head of that Church, in whose place I stand in my Church, and in whose place no other standeth (the elders and deacons have their place, but this belongeth to the angel or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying […]
ref: 1832, Edward Irving, speech before the Presbytery of London, quoted in 1862, Margaret Oliphant, The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London: Illustrated by His Journals and Correspondence, page 429
text: The second or highest grade consists of the Angels or Bishops of Churches. Each Church has its Angel, who has (1) the higher supervision and care of all the flock, (2) the supervision and care of the Priests under him, and (3) the care of the Church itself.
ref: 1878, Edward Miller, The History and Doctrines of Irvingism Or of the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, § 9 Pastors, page 50 (discussing the structure of the early Christian church and of the Catholic Apostolic Church)
glosses: An official (a bishop, or sometimes a minister) who heads a Christian church, especially a Catholic Apostolic Church.
synonyms: angel-noble
glosses: An English gold coin, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael, circulated between the 15th and 17th centuries, and varying in value from six shillings and eightpence to ten shillings.
examples: text: Climb to angels sixty.
translation: ascend to 60,000 feet
english: ascend to 60,000 feet
text: And even now part of me flies over Dresden at angels one five; / Though they’ll never fathom it, behind my sarcasm desperate memories lie.
ref: 1983 March 21, Roger Waters, “The Hero’s Return”, in The Final Cut, performed by Pink Floyd:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: An altitude, measured in thousands of feet.
glosses: An unidentified flying object detected by air traffic control radar.
examples: text: “Latent” angels are defined as those who have not invested capital in the past 12 months, although they likely have invested knowledge in the process of reviewing potential investments.
ref: 2011, OECD, Financing High-Growth Firms: The Role of Angel Investors:
topics: business
finance
glosses: someone that funds
An angel investor.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
theater
glosses: someone that funds
The person who funds a show.
synonyms: backer
Synonyms: sense: spiritual messenger
word: errand-ghost
Hyponyms: cherub
minion
power
principality
seraph
throne
Derived terms: an angel passes
angelage
angel aura
angel baby
angel bed
angel bites
angel cake
Angel City
angel date
angeldom
angel-drawers
angel dust
angel dusting
angel eye
angel fangs
angel fingers
angelfish
angel fish
angel food
angel food cake
angel-food cake
angel gear
angel hair
angel hat
angelhood
angelic
angelical
angelicity
angeliferous
angelify
angel insect
angel investment
angelise
angelism
angelist
angelistic
angelization
angelize
angelkind
angelless
angellike
angel-lore
angel lust
angel lute
angelly
angel maker
angel mom
angel number
angelocracy
angel of death
angel of mercy
angelography
angelolatry
angelology
angelomachy
angelomorphic
angelophany
angel particle
angel pie
angel salad
angel's dram
angel shark
angel shot
angel sleeve
angels moving the furniture
angel's tears
angel tern
angel water
angel wing
angel wings
angely
archangel
better angels
blue angel
business angel
death angel
destroying angel
don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly
Dutch angel dragon
European destroying angel
fallen angel
flare angel
guardian angel
gyrating angel
half-angel
high angel
ministering angel
nonangel
patience of an angel
recording angel
sea angel
shoulder angel
snow angel
spring destroying angel
strangling angel
strangling angel of children
sunangel
sun-angel
swamp angel
sweat angel
trail angel
wall angel
weeping angel
Related terms: word: Angel
word: Angelo
word: Angelus
english: evangelist, evangelize
translation: evangelist, evangelize
word: evangel