epicurean, a. and n.
(ˌɛpɪkjʊˈriːən)
Also in 6 epicureane, 7 epicurian.
[f. L. epicūrē-us, late L. epicūrius (ad. Gr. ἐπικούρειος, f. Ἐπίκουρος Epicurus) + -an. Cf. Fr. {Eacu}picurien.]
A. adj.
1. (With capital initial.) Of or pertaining to Epicurus, or to the ethical and physical system of philosophy taught by him.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1584) 442 Fortune being an Epicurian worde, rather than an Heathenish. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. iii. (1676) 205/2 It was no Epicurean speech of an Epicure. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. ii. §11 The Atomical or Epicurean Hypothesis. 1741 Middleton Cicero III. xii. (1742) 378 That chief good of an Epicurean life, his private ease and safety. 1861 Mill Utilit. ii. 11 There is no known Epicurean theory of life which does not assign to the pleasures of the intellect..a much higher value as pleasures than to those of mere sensation. |
2. Devoted to the pursuit of pleasure; hence, luxurious, sensual, gluttonous. Now chiefly: Devoted to refined and tasteful sensuous enjoyment.
| 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. ii. (1851) 66 Warming their Palace Kitchins, and from thence their unctuous, and epicurean paunches. 1656 Cowley Poems, Grasshopper, Voluptuous, and Wise withal, Epicurean Animal! 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. vi. (1872) 192 No longer an earnest Nation, but a light epicurean one. 1868 Tennyson Lucretius 215 Nothing to mar the sober majesties Of settled, sweet, Epicurean life. |
b. Suited to the taste of an epicure.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. i. 24 Epicurean Cookes, Sharpen with cloylesse sawce his Appetite. |
B. n. (With capital initial.)
1. A disciple of Epicurus; one who holds views similar to his.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiv. §9 Velleius the Epicurian needed not to have asked, why God should have adorned the heavens with stars. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 101 He may think with the Epicurean, that God is an idle, unactive Being. 1732 Berkeley Alciph. iv. §16 The very Epicureans allowed the being of gods. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 60 The Epicureans and the Stoics..came forward to supply that moral want. |
2. One who makes pleasure the chief object of his life.
| a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. (1846) I. 236 Symon Preastoun..a right Epicureane. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 25 Those poor brutish Epicureans have nothing but the mere husks of fleshly pleasure to feed themselues with. 1825 Scott Talism. x, He was a voluptuary and an epicurean. 1866 Motley Dutch Rep. ii. i. 131 A horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. |