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Webster 1913 Edition
Gymnosophist
Gym-nos′o-phist
(jĭm-nŏs′ō̍-fĭst)
, Noun.
[Gr.
γυμνοσοφιστής
; γυμνόσ
naked + σοφιστήσ
philosopher; cf. F. gymnosophiste
.] One of a sect of philosophers, said to have been found in India by
Alexander the Great
, who went almost naked, denied themselves the use of flesh, renounced bodily pleasures, and employed themselves in the contemplation of nature. Webster 1828 Edition
Gymnosophist
GYM'NOSOPHIST
,Noun.
A philosopher of India, so called from his going with bare feet, or with little clothing. The Gymnosophists in India lived in the woods and on mountains, subsisting on wild productions of the earth. They never drank wine nor married. Some of them traveled about, and practiced physic. They believed the immortality and transmigration of the soul. They placed the chief happiness of man in a contempt of the goods of fortune, and of the pleasures of sense.
Definition 2024
gymnosophist
gymnosophist
English
Noun
gymnosophist (plural gymnosophists)
- One of a school of ancient Indian ascetic philosophers, reported in antiquity, who wore little clothing; a mystic.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol.I, New York, 2001, p.250:
- As that gymnosophist in Plutarch made answer to Alexander (demanding which spake best), Every one of his fellows did speak better than the other: so may I say of these causes […].
- 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:
- I was speaking today with an unclothed Hindu religious, a parama-hamsa, on the steps of a Portuguese church, a true gymnosophist.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol.I, New York, 2001, p.250: