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Webster 1913 Edition

Cardinal

Car′di-nal

,
Adj.
[L.
cardinalis
, fr.
cardo
the hinge of a door, that on which a thing turns or depends: cf. F.
cardinal
.]
Of fundamental importance; preëminent; superior; chief; principal.
The
cardinal
intersections of the zodiac.
Sir T. Browne.
Impudence is now a
cardinal
virtue.
Drayton.
But
cardinal
sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.
Shakespeare
Cardinal numbers
,
the numbers
one
,
two
,
three
, etc., in distinction from first, second, third, etc., which are called
ordinal numbers
.
–
Cardinal points
(a)
(Geol.)
The four principal points of the compass, or intersections of the horizon with the meridian and the prime vertical circle, north, south east, and west.
(b)
(Astrol.)
The rising and setting of the sun, the zenith and nadir.
–
Cardinal signs
(Astron.)
Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn.
–
Cardinal teeth
(Zool.)
,
the central teeth of bivalve shell. See
Bivalve
.
–
Cardinal veins
(Anat.)
,
the veins in vertebrate embryos, which run each side of the vertebral column and returm the blood to the heart. They remain through life in some fishes.
–
Cardinal virtues
,
preëminent virtues; among the ancients, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.
–
Cardinal winds
,
winds which blow from the cardinal points due north, south, east, or west.

Car′di-nal

,
Noun.
[F.
carinal
, It.
cardinale
, LL.
cardinalis
(ecclesiæ Romanæ). See
Cardinal
,
Adj.
]
1.
(R. C. Ch.)
One of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the pope’s council, or the sacred college.
The clerics of the supreme Chair are called
Cardinals
, as undoubtedly adhering more nearly to the hinge by which all things are moved.
Pope Leo IX.
☞ The cardinals are appointed by the pope. Since the time of Sixtus V., their number can never exceed seventy (six of episcopal rank, fifty priests, fourteen deacons), and the number of cardinal priests and deacons is seldom full. When the papel chair is vacant a pope is elected by the college of cardinals from among themselves. The cardinals take precedence of all dignitaries except the pope. The principal parts of a cardinal's costume are a red cassock, a rochet, a short purple mantle, and a red hat with a small crown and broad brim, with cords and tessels of a special pattern hanging from it.
2.
A woman's short cloak with a hood.
Where's your
cardinal
! Make haste.
Lloyd.
3.
Mulled red wine.
Hotten.
Cardinal bird
, or
Cardinal grosbeak
(Zool.)
,
an American song bird (
Cardinalis cardinalis
, or
Cardinalis Virginianus
), of the family
Fringillidæ
, or finches of which the male has a bright red plumage, and both sexes have a high, pointed crest on its head; – it is also called the
northern cardinal
or
eastern cardinal
. The males have loud and musical notes resembling those of a fife. Other related species are also called
cardinal birds
.
–
Cardinal flower
(Bot.)
,
an herbaceous plant (
Lobelia cardinalis
) bearing brilliant red flowers of much beauty.
–
Cardinal red
,
a color like that of a cardinal's cassock, hat, etc.; a bright red, darker than scarlet, and between scarlet and crimson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cardinal

CARDINAL

,
Adj.
Chief, principal, preeminent, or fundamental; as the cardinal virtues, which Pagans supposed to be justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude.

CARDINAL

, n.
1.
An ecclesiastical prince in the Romish church, who has a voice in the conclave at the election of a Pope, who is taken from their number. The cardinals are divided into three classes or orders, containing six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons, making seventy. These constitute the sacred college, and compose the Popes council. Originally they were subordinate in rank to bishops; but they have now the precedence. The dress of a cardinal is a red soutaine or cassock, a rocket, a short purple mantle and a red hat.
2.
A womans cloke.
Cardinal-flower, a plant of the genus Lobelia, of many species. They are fibrous-rooted perennials, rising from two to five or six feet high, with erect stalks, ornamented with oblong, oval, spear-shaped simple leaves, and spikes of beautiful monopetalous flowers of scarlet, blue and violet colors. The natives of this country use a decoction of one species, the siphilitica, as a remedy in the venereal disease.
Cardinal numbers, are the numbers, one, two, three, &c., in distinction from first, second, third, &c., which are called ordinal numbers.
Cardinal points, in cosmography, are the four intersections of the horizon with the meridian, and the prime vertical circle, or North and South, East and West. In astrology, the cardinal points are the rising and setting of the sun, the zenith and nadir.
Cardinal signs, in astronomy, are Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn.
Cardinal winds, are those which blow from the cardinal points.

Definition 2024

Cardinal

Cardinal

See also: cardinal

English

Noun

Cardinal ‎(plural Cardinals)

  1. (baseball) A player on the St. Louis Cardinals team.
    Smith became a Cardinal as the result of a pre-season trade.
  2. (American football) A player on the Arizona Cardinals team.
  3. A player on a sports team at Stanford University.
  4. A student or player on a sports team at the University of Louisville.

Anagrams

cardinal

cardinal

See also: Cardinal

English

Adjective

cardinal ‎(comparative more cardinal, superlative most cardinal)

  1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
    a cardinal rule
    • Shakespeare
      But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.
    • Sir Thomas Browne
      the cardinal intersections of the zodiac
    • Drayton
      Impudence is now a cardinal virtue.
  2. (nautical) Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
    a cardinal mark
  3. Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
  4. Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock).

Translations

Noun

cardinal ‎(plural cardinals)

  1. A number indicating quantity, or the size of a set, e.g., one, two, three. (See Wikipedia article on Cardinal number.)
    • 1920, Bertrand Russell, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, p.83:
      This cardinal number is the smallest of the infinite cardinal numbers; it is the one to which Cantor has appropriated the Hebrew aleph with the suffix 0, to distinguish it from larger infinite cardinals. Thus the name of the smallest of infinite cardinals is 0א.
  2. (grammar) A word used to represent a cardinal number; a cardinal numeral.
  3. An official in the Catholic Church, ranking only below the Pope and the patriarchs. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
    • 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 16, in Friday's Business:
      His uncle, a Cardinal, engages a Spanish youth of Moorish descent called Diego, an expert singer and player on the virginal, to unlock the secrets of the heart, […] and cure him by the spell of his music.
  4. Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
  5. Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter V”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
  6. A shade of scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock.
    cardinal colour:    
  7. (historical) A woman's short cloak with a hood.
    • Robert Lloyd (1733-1764)
      Where's your cardinal! Make haste.
  8. (obsolete) Mulled red wine.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Hotten to this entry?)

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardinālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kaʁ.di.nal/

Adjective

cardinal m ‎(feminine singular cardinale, masculine plural cardinaux, feminine plural cardinales)

  1. Important; paramount.
  2. (mathematics) cardinal.

Noun

cardinal m ‎(plural cardinaux)

  1. (religion) cardinal.
  2. Cardinal number.
  3. Cardinal (bird).

Noun

cardinal m ‎(plural cardinal)

  1. cardinal (color).

Italian

Noun

cardinal m ‎(invariable)

  1. apocopic form of cardinale

Anagrams

Middle French

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinauls)

  1. (Christianity) cardinal.

Portuguese

Adjective

cardinal m, f ‎(plural cardinais, comparable)

  1. cardinal (describing a number that indicates quantity)

Synonyms

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinais)

  1. cardinal (number indicating quantity)
  2. (typography) hash (the # symbol)

Synonyms

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ka̠ɾ.diˈna̠l/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardināli, singular ablative of cardinālis.

Adjective

cardinal m, f ‎(plural cardinales)

  1. cardinal Crucial, pivotal (for few cases).
Derived terms
Related terms

Etymology

From French cardinal, from Latin cardinālis ‎(“pertaining to a hinge, hence applied to that on which something turns or depends, important, principal, chief”), from cardō ‎(“hinge”) + -ālis, adjectival suffix.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkɑː.dɪ.nəl/
  • (US): IPA(key): /ˈkɑɹdɪnəl/

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