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Webster 1913 Edition


Hieroglyphical

{

Hiˊer-o-glyph′ic

,

Hiˊer-o-glyph′ic-al

, }
Adj.
[L.
hieroglyphicus
, Gr. [GREEK];
ἱερόσ
sacred +
γλύφειν
to carve: cf. F.
hiéroglyphique
.]
1.
Emblematic; expressive of some meaning by characters, pictures, or figures;
as,
hieroglyphic
writing; a
hieroglyphic
obelisk.
Pages no better than blanks to common minds, to his, hieroglyphical of wisest secrets.
Prof. Wilson.
2.
Resembling hieroglyphics; not decipherable.
“An hieroglyphical scrawl.”
Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hieroglyphical

HIEROGLYPH'ICAL

,
Adj.
Emblematic; expressive of some meaning by characters, pictures or figures, as hieroglyphic writing; a hieroglyphic obelisk.

Definition 2024


hieroglyphical

hieroglyphical

English

Adjective

hieroglyphical (comparative more hieroglyphical, superlative most hieroglyphical)

  1. hieroglyphic: related to or resembling hieroglyphs
    • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus:
      Nay, what is your Montesquieu himself but a clever infant spelling Letters from a hieroglyphical prophetic Book, the lexicon of which lies in Eternity, in Heaven?
    • 1835, An Oxonian, Thaumaturgia:
      Indisputable historical facts, recorded in this invaluable book, were treated by them as hieroglyphical symbols of chemical processes: and the fundamental truths of the christian religion were applied, in a wanton and blasphemous manner, to the purposes of making gold, and distilling the elixir of life.
    • 1874, Charles Kingsley, All Saints' Day and Other Sermons:
      It is an hieroglyphical and shadowed lesson of the whole world, and of the creatures of God.
    Pages no better than blanks to common minds, to his, hieroglyphical of wisest secrets. Prof. Wilson.
    An hieroglyphical scrawl. Sir Walter Scott.