Lucifer
(ˈl(j)uːsɪfə(r))
[L. lūcifer adj., light-bringing; used as proper name of the morning star; f. lūc(i)-, lūx light + -fer bearing. Cf. the equivalent Gr. ϕωσϕόρος, after which it was prob. formed.]
I. As proper name, and allusively.
1. The morning star; the planet Venus when she appears in the sky before sunrise. Now only poet.
| c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 320 Þær æfter on þam circule lucifer up arist. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. metr. i. 50 (Camb. MS.) After þat lucifere the day sterre hath chasyd awey the dirke nyht. 1388 Wyclif Job xxxviii. 32 Whether thou bryngist forth Lucifer, that is dai sterre, in his tyme. 1629 Milton Ode Nativity 74 The Stars..will not take their flight, For all the morning light, Or Lucifer that often warn'd them thence. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. (1779) i. 148 Lucifer displays His beaming forehead through the gates of morn. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 801 Now on the mountains of Ida was rising Lucifer bright. |
† b. fig. (Cf. day-star.) Obs.
| a 1585 Cartwright in R. Browne Answ. to C. 87 Vntill such time as the day starre spring & Lucifer do rise in our hearts. 1599 Broughton's Let. viii. 26 You Cynosura and Lucifer of nations, the stupor and admiration of the world. |
2. The rebel archangel whose fall from heaven was supposed to be referred to in Isa. xiv. 12; Satan, the Devil. Now rare in serious use; current chiefly in the phrase as proud as Lucifer.
The Scripture passage (Vulg. ‘Quomodo cecidisti de cælo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris?’ A.V. ‘How art thou fallen from heauen, O Lucifer, sonne of the morning?’) is part of a ‘parable against the king of Babylon’ (Isa. xiv. 4); but the mention of a fall from heaven led Christian interpreters to suppose that ‘king of Babylon’ was to be interpreted spiritually, as a designation of the chief of ‘the angels who kept not their first estate’. Hence the general patristic view that Lucifer was the name of Satan before his fall. The Latin word was adopted in all the Eng. versions down to 1611; the Revised version has daystar.
| a 1000 Christ & Satan 367 (Gr.) Wæs þæt encgelcyn ær ȝenemned, Lucifer haten, leohtberende. a 1300 Cursor M. 442 And for þat he was fair and bright, lucifer to nam he hight. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 30 Þese nouelries maad of ydiotis & synful wrecchis of lucifers pride. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 4377 With feendes and lucifere..in helle. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 175 Proude Lucifer, the greit maister of hell. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 371 And when he falles, he falles like Lucifer, Neuer to hope againe. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims I. iv. 571 His Pride is such, as may teach Lucifer. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 131. 1771 Fletcher Checks Wks. 1795 II. 352 A fall into pride may drive me nearer Lucifer. 1814 Scott Wav. lvii, A second Lucifer of ambition and wrath. 1839 Bailey Festus (1852) 55 Men say—as proud as Lucifer—Pray who would not be proud with such a train? |
| Comb. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 1 His..Lucifer⁓like pride. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 219 With such an incredible inordinate desire of luciferlike superioritie. |
¶ Misused for: A devil.
| 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 72 The temper of eight little Lucifers in a swept lodging. |
† b. allusively. One who commits the sin of Lucifer, i.e. who seeks to dethrone God; occas. applied to one who presumptuously rebels against an earthly sovereign. Obs.
| 1549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1641) 12 That presumption of challenging Gods seat, doth shew you to have been Lucifers. 1579 Fulke Heskins's Parl. 305 What Lucifer is that, that wil oppose him selfe against the flatt commaundement of the holie ghost. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. l. 229 Yea, too blasphemous, they incroch vpon the Deitie, Though of these Lucifers haue been that perish through a Flie. a 1618 Raleigh in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 89 Although they be perpetual Lucifers, they must always be Angels, and live in plenty. |
II. As a common noun. (Usu. with lower-case initial.)
3. Orig. lucifer match: A friction match made usually of a splint of wood tipped with an inflammable substance ignitable on a roughened or otherwise prepared surface.
| 1831 John Bull 28 Nov. XI. 379/1 [Jones v. Watts, speech of plaintiff's counsel.] Mr. Jones had, some time ago, invented a match to produce an instantaneous light..and he had given his ingenious invention the name of ‘Promethean’... Subsequently the plaintiff invented another description of match, which he designated with the frightful name of ‘Lucifer’... For the ‘Lucifers’ he had not..secured his right as the patentee... The defendant made an exact imitation of the ‘Lucifer Match.’ 1836 Brande Man. Chem. (ed. 4) 543 Matches tipped with some of these inflammable mixtures, and called Lucifers, are now in common use, and are inflamed either by friction or by the contact of sulphuric acid. Ibid. 1274 Gen. Index, Lucifer matches. 1837 Ann. Reg. 80 Several other lucifer matches were lying about, one of them having the appearance of having been drawn through the sandpaper. 1849 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 42 When we had put a lucifer to some sticks in the grate. 1876 ‘Capt. Crawley’ Card Players' Man. 120 Cribbage..is played with a full pack of fifty-two cards,..and two pegs (that may be of ivory, or lucifer matches, with the phosphorus ends cut off). 1884 E. Yates Recoll. I. ii. 45 The lucifer, or Congreve match as it was called,..was ignited by friction on sandpaper, and had a very unpleasant smell. |
| Comb. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Lucifer-box. 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 400 Mr. Lundström..showed me over his lucifer-manufactory. |
Hence † ˈLucifering a. nonce-wd., acting the part of Lucifer.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. l. 229 Of which Conuerting, Christo-fers yee [Popes] thenceforth shalbe said: If not, apply and perish in your Luciferring Traid. |