revelation
(rɛvəˈleɪʃən)
Forms: 4–6 reuelacion (4 -ciun, -cyun, 4–5 -cioun, 5–6 -cyon, 6–7 -tion); 6 reuealation; 4–5 revelacio(u)n (6 -cyon); 5– revelation.
[a. OF. revelaciun, -cion, -tion (mod.F. révélation), = Sp. revelacion, It. re-, rivelazione, or ad. L. revēlātiōn-em, n. of action f. revēlāre to reveal.]
1. The disclosure or communication of knowledge to man by a divine or supernatural agency.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 441 Þys ys clepyd reuelacyun, To shewe byfore what ys to doun. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxxviii. 19 When..þou spak in visyon, þat is, in pryue reuelacioun til prophetis. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 277 Metodre seith to this matiere, As he be revelacion It hadde upon avision. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 343 Seynte Iohn Baptiste schewede his hedde by reuelacion to ij. monkes. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. cxcii. 195 Whan he..hadde vnderstandynge of the dethe of this Edwynne, by reuelacyon or otherwyse. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 55 b, He sayd, how he had all thinges shewed him by revelation. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. ii, A man, by reuelation, That hath a competent knowledge of the truth. 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 75 The Gift of Revelation..seems to have been continued no longer than till the whole New Testament was revealed. 1725 Watts Logic ii. v. §3 Divine Revelation must be confirmed by some divine and supernatural Appearances. 1794 Paley Evid. (1825) II. 421 The object of revelation is to influence human conduct in this life. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. II. 692/1 A distinction has frequently been taken between the law of nature and revelation, to which we cannot assent. 1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 3) p. v, On the supposition of an eternal universe, science would necessarily antagonize Revelation. |
† b. A source of enlightenment.
Obs. rare—1.
| a 1400 Prymer (1891) 33 Liȝt and reuelacioun of heþen men, & glorie to þi puple israel. |
2. An instance of such communication of knowledge to man; something disclosed or made known by divine or supernatural means.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 366 For prestes of þe temple telle þis, That Dremes bene the reuelaciouns Of Goddes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 77 Þanne Cristen men..hadde a revelacioun and a schewynge of God þat þe grettere bones were þe fischeres bones. 1402 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 100 To seint Joon..it was bodun also, that privy revelacion to writun in his book. c 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. xx. 53 The prophecye of the deuyll may be knowen fro reuelacyons of god. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 3 The seruaunt of god Moyses had moost hye reuelacyons & visyons. a 1598 Rollock Passion (1616) 418 Away with these fantasticke reuelations of the Anabaptistes. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 168 A good Monk, having had in the Night⁓time a Revelation, that the Body was in the top of the Hill, went [etc.]. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 60 Magic..was not a revelation from hell, made at once to mankind. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 205 Six legislators..have announced to mankind the six successive revelations of various rites. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Swedenborg Wks. (Bohn) I. 332 His revelations destroy their credit by running into detail. 1892 Westcott Gospel of Life 86 If anything human lies without the scope of a revelation to man, that revelation cannot be final. |
b. A striking disclosure of something previously unknown or not realized.
| 1862 Spencer First Princ. i. i. §5 (1875) 20 Be there or be there not any other revelation, we have a veritable revelation in Science. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith vii. 294 The daily life of every one of us is a perpetual revelation of his inner self. 1883 Cent. Mag. Oct. 812/1 The exquisite revelation of tree systems which stripped boughs give. |
3. the Revelation (of St. John), the last book of the New Testament; the Apocalypse.
| c 1400 Wycliffite Bible (1851) IV. 681/1 Heere endith the Apocalips, or Reuelacioun of Seynt Joon the euangelist. 1535 Coverdale Rev. (heading), The summe of the Reuelacion. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 36 b, They call the Bishop of Rome..the whore of Babilon, described in the Revelation. c 1585 R. Browne Answ. Cartwright 43 In the Reuelation, the twelue Apostles are called the twelue foundations. a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 49 What Scriptures call The Revelation, is most mystical. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Rev. i. 1 It is eminently call'd the Revelation. 1833 Cruse tr. Eusebius v. viii. 188 These are what he states respecting the Revelation. 1846 Tennyson in Mem. I. 238 There was no more sea, says St. John in Revelation. |
b. So in
pl.,
the Revelations.
| 1656 A. Wright Five Serm. 211 Many prophesies are to be fulfilled.., among which that in the Revelations is one. 1680 Dodwell Two Lett. (1691) 81 The scandalous, licentious person is like the Dragon in the Revelations. 1755 T. Amory Mem. (1769) I. 28 As St. John..expresses it in the third chapter of the Revelations. 1806 Southey in Life (1850) III. 34 Reading the Revelations..was my favourite part of the Christian religion. a 1871 De Morgan Budget Parod. (1872) 358 For myself,..I am the first Beast in the Revelations. |
c. Pl., without article. Also
Book of Revelations.
| 1691 Sir T. P. Blount Ess. 15 The Rhemists in their Annotations upon Revelations the 14th. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. Wks. 1716 III. 106, I have heard a little Domine or Curate..tell the People from Revelations. 1818 T. L. Peacock Nightmare Abbey i, He would condole with Mr. Glowry,..quote Revelations with Mr. Toobad. 1842 R. I. Wilberforce Rutilius & Lucius 81 In..the book of Revelations, they are called the angels of the Churches. 1885 L. Oliphant Haifa (1887) 313 They profess to find it clearly indicated in Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelations.., that [etc.]. |
| transf. 1898 Sir G. Parker Battle of the Strong x, He saw..the gracious figure of a girl; and a book of revelations was opened and begun. |
d. Applied to other works of a similar kind.
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Apocalypse, Porphyry..makes mention of the Apocalypses or revelations of Zoroaster, Zostrian,.. &c. 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 546/2 The apocryphal books of the New Testament are..several spurious gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and Revelations. 1845 Kitto Cycl. Bibl. Lit. (1849) II. 628/1 We shall first treat of the apocryphal revelations no longer extant. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 179/2 A fragment of the apocryphal Revelations of St. Bartholomew. |
4. Disclosure of facts made by a person; exposure of something previously disguised or concealed.
| ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 989 He made revelation unto me, That he knewe all your pryvyte. c 1531 in Pol., Rel., & L. Poems 62 (title), The Revelation of Antechriste. |
| 1863 Morrin (title), Record Revelations: a letter..on the Public Records of Ireland. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Time lx. IV. 326 This astounding revelation excited alarm and anger. |
5. (With capital initial.) A proprietary name for a make of leather goods, used
esp. to denote an expanding suitcase.
| 1923 Trade Marks Jrnl. 2 May 876 Revelation... Bags, trunks, suitcases, attaché cases, card cases, cigar and cigarette cases, wallets and similar containers, all being goods made of leather or principally of leather... Jigger, Limited,..London,..; merchants. 1935 G. Greene Basement Room 115 Grains of rice..fell on to his Revelation suitcase. 1938 D. du Maurier Rebecca vi. 60 My Revelation suit-case and the stout hold-all. 1964 J. Gardner Liquidator i. 15 The battered multi-labelled tan Revelation stood packed. 1967 ‘F. Clifford’ All Men are Lonely Now i. iv. 62 He had brought a Revelation from the flat and now he packed the twenty-five folders into it. 1975 Listener 9 Jan. 48/1 If one has a folding cycle, one can wrap it up..in a Revelation suitcase. |
6. attrib., as
revelation-discovery;
† revelation-day, the Day of Judgement;
† revelation-gate (?).
| 14.. Rule Syon Monast. xiii. in Collect. Topogr. I. (1834) 31 The keper of the grates, the keper of the revelacion gate, the keper of the cloyster and dortour dores. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 270 As I beleive on Revelation Day will appeare in civill History. 1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. i. i. 19 Meer natural reason..not excited by Revelation-discovery. |
Hence
reveˈlational a., of or pertaining to revelation;
reveˈlationer.
| 1701 Beverley Apoc. Question 25, I will now give the Schematic History of the Beast, in the Revelational Prophecy. 1874 Sidgwick Meth. Ethics iv. vi. 467 It seems..unnecessary to discuss the precise relation of different Revelational Codes to Utilitarianism. 1892 Horton Revelation & Bible vii. 193 The notion of all the writings..in our Hebrew Canon being a Revelation, or even of a revelational character, is quite arbitrary. 1898 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 134/2 Some of the revelationers insinuate distinctly enough that the great Chancellor was no more mistaken in that matter. |