Olympian
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: human-sciences
lifestyle
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
religion
sciences
theology
Etymology: From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólŭmpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Affixes: -an
Inflected forms:
form: more Olympian
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most Olympian
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: Olympians
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of or relating to Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece; or (Greek mythology) the Greek gods and goddesses who were believed to live there.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
usually
examples: Namely, the Olympian Iove, to whom Antiochus [IV Epiphanes] conſecrated the Temple of God, 2 Mac[cabees] 6.2. and ſo he placed him, as it were, in Gods own cittadell, ver. 31. […] [T]he ſaid Olympian Iove was an Athenian Idoll, and not a Syrian one: which was Antiochus his native Country.
Deſcend from Heav'n Urania, by that name / If rightly thou art call'd, whoſe Voice divine / Following, above th' Olympian Hill I ſoare, / Above the flight of Pegaſean wing.
Twelve Days were paſt, and now the dawning Light / The Gods had ſummon'd to th' Olympian Height.
When the great pow'r that e'en the gods commands, / Who ſends the bolts from his [Jupiter's] almighty hands, / Summon'd th' immortals, who obey'd his call, / He thus addreſs'd them in th' olympian hall.
[O]ther light / Though it be quick and sharp enough to blight / The Olympian eagle's vision, is dark, / Dark as the parentage of chaos.
[…] Hetty was quite uneducated—a simple farmer's girl, to whom a gentleman with a white hand was dazzling as an Olympian god.
gloss: Resembling a Greek deity in some way.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
comparable
not-comparable
usually
examples: Behold! your Saviour mounts th' Olympian plain, / In endleſs glories with his Sire to reign.
He has […] a certain high chested carriage of the shoulders, a lofty pose of the head, and the Olympian majesty with which a mane, or rather a huge wisp, of hazel colored hair is thrown back from an imposing brow, suggest Jupiter rather than Apollo.
gloss: Resembling a Greek deity in some way.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
comparable
not-comparable
usually
examples: The Olympian distance he so carefully cultivated was shot through with genuine exhaustion. Workaholic and overburdened with affairs of state, he had evidently written the letter in snached moments between other matters.
gloss: Any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hades); (specifically) preceded by the: Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Greek deities.
pos: noun
tags: Greek
examples: Pauſanias's account is related pretty faithfully there, if we except two errors, one, that Arcas an Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes with the brazen ſtatue, the other that he caſt a mare. […] We do not find in the author's Latin, that Arcas the Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes, &c.
Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. He got gold, so that whatsoever he touched became gold—and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it.
gloss: In the Platonist theology of Plethon, a god in one group of supercelestial gods, the other group of such gods being the Tartareans or Titans.
pos: noun
gloss: A person with superior talents or towering achievements.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
Related words: Olympic
Olympus
Derived words: Olympianism
Olympianize
Olympianly
Translations: