▪ I. angelic, a.1 and n.
(ænˈdʒɛlɪk)
Forms: 5–6 angelyk(e, 6 aungelyke, 6–7 angelike, -ique, 6–8 -ick, 7 angellike, 7– angelic.
[ad. Fr. angelique, ad. L. angelic-us, a. Gr. ἀγγελικ-ός, f. ἄγγελ-ος angel n.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to angels; of angel kind.
| 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 20 This said the angelyk visyon vanysshed away. 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 136 Th' Angellike Quire did greet their New-Borne King. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 18 From Paradise in hast Th'angelic guards ascended, mute and sad. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 6 ¶3 His [Satan's] Wit and Angelick Faculties. 1865 R. Dale Jew. Temp. ii. 24 Angelic messengers conversed with Abraham. |
2. Like an angel; hence, of superhuman nature, intelligence, innocence, purity, sweetness.
| c 1510 More Picus Wks. 1557. 4/2 Many noble bokes, whiche well testifie his angelike wit. c 1520 W. de Worde Treat. Galaunt (1860) 15 Our aungelyke abstynence is nowe refused. 1550 J. Coke Debate (1877) 109 England is a holy and angelique grounde, blyssed of God. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 74 Happy creature, fair angelic Eve. 1712 Pope Spect. No. 408 ¶4 As a Man inclines to the angelick or brute Part of his Constitution. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 550 His profligacy and insolence united had been too much even for the angelic temper of Tillotson. |
3. angelic doctor: title given to Thomas Aquinas; Angelic Salutation, the words addressed to the Virgin Mary by the angel Gabriel (Luke i. 28), the Ave Maria.
| 1657 S. Colvil Whigs Suppl. (1751) 115 Aquinas new modell'd the school-Divinity; wherefore he was call'd the Angelic Doctor. 1843 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy I. 130 Dante was as wild as any of the angelic or seraphic doctors that preceded him. 1868 R. Morris Chaucer's Boeth. Introd. 1 ‘The angelic’ Thomas Aquinas commented on him. |
† B. n. A worshipper of angels. Obs. rare.
| 1554 Philpot Exam. & Writ. (1842) 420 Men which were called Angelicks, because they worshipped Angels. |
▪ II. angelic, a.2 Chem.
(ænˈdʒɛlɪk)
[f. next.]
Of or derived from angelica; as in angelic acid C5H8O2, a monatomic monobasic acid of the acrylic series, obtained from the root of A. archangelica (and other plants); with a corresponding aldehyde C5H8O.
| 1863 Watts Dict. Chem. I, Angelic acid crystallises in large long prisms and needles. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 390 Angelic acid [occurs] in the archangel root, while angelic aldehyde is contained in the essential oil of chamomile. |