spiritual, a. and n.
(ˈspɪrɪtjuːəl)
Forms: 4–5 spirituel(l, 4–6 -elle, 4 spyrytuele, 5 spyryt-, spyrit-, spirytuel(l; 4– spiritual, 4–5 -ale, 6–7 -all, 5 spirytuall, spyrytual(e, 5–6 -all, sperituall (5 -ale), 6 spyritualle.
[a. OF. spirituel (12th c., = It. spirituale, Sp. and Pg. espiritual), or ad. L. spīrituāl-is, f. spīritus spirit n. Cf. espiritual, spritual, and spirital.]
A. adj. I. 1. a. Of or pertaining to, affecting or concerning, the spirit or higher moral qualities, esp. as regarded in a religious aspect. (Freq. in express or implied distinction to bodily, corporal, or temporal.)
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 284 So pouerte propreliche, penaunce, and ioye, Is to þe body pure spiritual helthe. c 1400 Anturs of Arth. xx, Of thies sperituale thynges spyre me na mare. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 97 Spiritual gladnesse most for to habounde, This day mynistred til oure refeccioune. 1474 Caxton Chesse (1883) 42 For they doo spirytuell and also corporall werkis. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 157/1 It then bycame to be the spirituall busynesse and occupacion of man. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 1111 In the sacrament..there is not the very substaunce..but a spirituall partaking of the bodye and blood of Christ. 1592 in J. Morris Troubles Cath. Foref. (1877) 38 A man..much given to meditation, and receiving thereby many spiritual consolations. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn iii. ii, Love is a spiritual coupling of two souls. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxvii, Since they are most proper to Beginners, and..those who enter upon the Spiritual Race. 1753 Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. 20 The spiritual Kindred which is contracted between the Gossips and the Child. 1784 P. Wright New Bk. Martyrs 798/1 To administer those spiritual helps that were suitable to men in their circumstances. 1835 I. Taylor Spirit Despot. vii. 289 The spiritual essence of popery has outlived the over⁓throw of the papal domination. 1883 J. Parker Apost. Life II. 327 The thing I aim at is spiritual restoration, spiritual completeness, spiritual immortality. |
| Comb. 1872 Howells Wedding Journ. (1892) 269 A spiritual-worldliness which was the clarified likeness of this-worldliness. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) v. 252 Turned off that valve at once and opened the spiritual-heroic refrigerating apparatus, invented and patented in all countries by Dante Alighieri. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Paintings of D. H. Lawrence A4v This no doubt is all in the course of the growth of the ‘spiritual-mental’ consciousness. |
b. Applied to material things, substances, etc., in a figurative or symbolical sense.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. ix. (Skeat) I. 98 How was it, that sightful manna in deserte to children of Israel was spirituel mete? 1550 Coverdale (title), A Spyrytuall and most Precyouse Pearle teaching all men to love and imbrace the Crosse. 1576 G. Tyrrell in J. Morris Troubles Cath. Foref. Ser. ii. (1875) 30 Abundance of spiritual riches far passingly supplieth the lack of the other [i.e. corporal]. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶1 The Spirituall and sincere milke of the word. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 491 His Spirit..shall write To guide them in all truth, and also arme With spiritual Armour. a 1729 J. Rogers Nineteen Serm. vi. (1735) 117 All eat of the same spiritual Bread, and drank of the same spiritual Cup. 1820 Southey Wesley II. 331 With regard to the bodily effects that ensued, whenever the spiritual influenza began. 1871 Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 173 A cloud of sedulous ephemera still suck a little spiritual moisture. 1889 Stevenson Edinburgh 168 Every kind of spiritual disinfectant. |
c. Of songs, etc.: Devotional, sacred; spec. in sense 5 of the n.
| 1382 Wyclif Eph. v. 19 Spekinge to ȝou silf in psalmes, and ymnes, and spiritual songis. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 1 Singing of the Psalmes, and spiritual sangis. 1611 Bible Eph. v. 19; Colos. iii. 16. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 364 Dancings in stately rooms, or gardens, with spirituall songs, rather a sort of adoration than a dance. 1905 [see gospel song s.v. gospel n. 9]. 1964 Amer. Folk Music Occasional i. 15 Q. What kind of music did you like best at this time, spiritual music or blues or what? R. I always liked the spiritual music the best. |
† d. Of transcendent beauty or charm. Obs.—1
| 1480 Caxton Myrr. ii. iv. 69 Ther ben yet plente of other places so delectable, so swete, and so spyrytuel that yf a man were therin, he shold saye, that it were a very paradys. |
e. spiritual home (with no religious connotation), a place or milieu, other than one's home, which seems especially congenial or in harmony with one's nature, or to which one feels a sense of belonging or indebtedness.
| 1932 Week-End Rev. 7 May 586/1 If they write about it at all they make it clear that Europe is their spiritual home. 1941 A. Christie Evil under Sun iii. 52 A man like you would be at Deauville or Le Touquet... That's your—what's the phrase?—spiritual home. 1962 Wodehouse Service with Smile xi. 164 He disliked Lord Ickenham, considering him a potty sort of feller whose spiritual home was a padded cell in some not too choosy lunatic asylum. 1967 [see paper n. 8 b]. 1977 [see Rastafarian a. and n.]. |
2. a. Of, belonging or relating to, concerned with, sacred or ecclesiastical things or matters, as distinguished from secular affairs; pertaining to the church or the clergy; ecclesiastical.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 283 He sent to þe kyng tuo bisshops of renoun, & schewed þat spiritualle þing þorgh pouert ȝede alle doun. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 305 Þei meyntenen þis cursed þefte boþe bi seculer power and spiritual swerd. a 1440 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 5 Thou shalte founde a Chirche... This spirituall howse, almyghty God shalle ynhabite and halowe yt. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 390 In eny cymitory or londe spirituelle. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxi. 25 Couatyce ringis into the spirituall state, Ȝarnand banifice the quhilk ar now vacand. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 37 We have in our spirituall conuocacion graunted to your highnes..a some of money. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 249 If any Clerke gave to a layman..any spirituall goodes he should stand excommunicate. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 362 The Scabberd of Power (if not of Justice,) seemeth to have Locks on them, that only the spirituall Keyes can open. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 26 Apr. 1689, The penalty is to be the losse of their dignitie and spiritual preferment. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. v. (1841) I. 33 The duties of life, which are either spiritual or secular. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. ii. 78 The prelate watched over the spiritual interests. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Salem Chapel i. 6 The young man knew very little of the community which he had assumed the spiritual charge of. |
† b. Of law: Canon, canonical. Obs.
| 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. iii. (1883) 95 As well in the spirituell lawe as in the temporall. 1642 tr. Perkins Prof. Bk. i. §49. 22 If a bastard eigne (who is mulier in the spiritual law,) continueth possession in lands [etc.]. |
† c. Of a day: Devoted to or set apart for special religious or sacred observances; holy. Obs.
| 1490 Caxton Rule St. Benet 134 The souereyn may breke his mele for a stranger, wythout it be a spirituell fastynge daye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 b, Whiche..in maner declareth the hole mater of these vij spirituall dayes. |
d. spiritual court, a court having jurisdiction in matters of religion or ecclesiastical affairs.
| 1498–9 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 133 A spoliacion in the spirituall court. 1538 Starkey England 139 In theyr spiritual courtys, they haue no punnyschement..conuenyent to such fautys. 1681 H. Nevile Plato Rediv. 131 Neither the Chancery,..nor the Spiritual Courts, nor the Cheats in trade. 1758 in Blackstone Comm. (1765) I. 20 This appears in a particular manner from the spiritual courts of all denominations. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 55 A..period during which the powers and the aims of law were usurped..by the clergy and the courts spiritual. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 111 The confusion arising from the jurisdiction of the spiritual and temporal courts. |
3. Of persons: a. Standing to another, or to others, in a spiritual relationship.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶516 Alle we haue o fader flesshly & o moder, that is to seyn Adam and Eue & eek o fader spirituel, that is god of heuene. c 1440 Alph. Tales 189, I had iij spirituall maisters, and þe furste was drede, & the secunde was shame, and þe iij was luff. 1483 Caxton Cato A vij, For herto ben bounden of ryght not onely the carnal faders but also the spyrituel. 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 51 Thincrease of this spirituall Israell vnto whome..he was the father of fayth. 1562 Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 23 Be thame he wald..quikin his spiritual peple afoir slane. 1567 Allen Def. Priesthood 226 We call them Confessours, & of olde in Grece, they were named Spirituall maisters or Fathers. 1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemb. 122 He preferrs his own parish priest..as being his spiritual father. 1769 H. Venn in Life (1835) 152 A lady said to me, ‘You, sir, are my spiritual father’. 1820 Milner Suppl. Mem. Eng. Cath. 66 note, The distinguished Professor of Divinity and Spiritual Director of the Pontifical Seminary of Douay. 1843 Quincy (Illinois) Herald 15 Dec. 3/1 Hyram Smith has had a revelation confirming the spiritual wife system. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 434 Spiritual wife,..a Mormon extra wife or concubine. 1901 Kipling Kim v. 111 The comfort..of being properly..respected as her spiritual adviser by a well-born woman. 1925 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Apr. 38/1 It is considered by the elderly women of Utah a great and sacred privilege to be the spiritual wife of Brigham Young or the Prophet Joseph Smith in the world to come. 1951 J. T. McNeill History of Cure of Souls iii. 42 Among ancient civilizations, that of India seems to have given the greatest prominence to the spiritual director. 1980 Tablet 26 Jan. 8/2 He..cited..divorced Catholics in second marriages who, after prayer and consultation with a spiritual director, have returned to the sacraments. Ibid. 95/3 A letter I wrote in reply to my spiritual children was produced. |
b. Ecclesiastical, religious. Freq. in spiritual lords and spiritual man (or spiritual person).
| (a) 1399 Rolls of Parlt. III. 451 The Kyng comond with his Spirituel Lordes. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xv. (1885) 145 The gretteste lordes off þe lande, both spirituelles and temporellis. 1516 Sc. Acts, Jas. V (1875) XII. 36/1 We prelatis spirituall, Barouns Temporall, and Commouns of..Scottlaund. 1625 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 203 When he had consulted with the Lords spirituall and Temporall. 1661 Reflex. upon the Oaths Suprem. & Alleg. 50 Ecclesiastical Courts, which we call the Spiritual Courts, and Spiritual Judges, and Spiritual Authority. 1727 Swift Poison. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 150 I do also heartily beg pardon of all persons of honour, lords spiritual and temporal, gentry, burgesses, and commonalty. 1824 in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 73 With the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present Parliament assembled. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. vii. 62 The Lords Spiritual and Temporal form one legislative assembly. |
| (b) c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xv. (1885) 146 Ther were chosen xij spirituell men, and xij temporell men. 1480 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 316 What ever condicion or degree he be of, spirituell or temporell. 1530 Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 15, Spyrituall persones of the prouynce of the archebyshopryche of Canturburye. 1582 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 32 Being examined whether he be a spirituall or a temporall man, answereth that he is a Spirituall man and a Priest. 1642 Bird Mag. Honour 146 The brethren and sonnes..of every Knight, being spirituall men, may..purchase lycense and dispensation. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 129 All Bishops and Abbots sat in State-Councils by Reason of their Office, as they were spiritual Persons. 1848 Stephen Laws Eng. (ed. 2) II. 39 note, Any sale or assignment by any spiritual person of any patronage belonging to him in virtue of his office. |
c. Devout, holy, pious; morally good; having spiritual tendencies or instincts.
| 1382 Wyclif Gal. vi. 1 Ȝe that ben spiritual, teche siche a maner man in spirit of softenesse. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud MS. 622) 842 Þere is a Man of dedes gode, Spirituel, & mylde of mode. c 1450 Holland Howlat 166 Thir ar fowlis of effect,..Spirituale in all thing, Leile in thar leving. 1674 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 423 The good acquaintance you have among those spirituall people. c 1791 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 447/1 These milder alterations were zealously opposed by a branch of the Franciscans called the spiritual. 1836 Going to Service xii. 140, I have a spiritual lady to serve. 1883 [see spirituality 3]. |
4. a. Of or pertaining to, consisting of, spirit, regarded in either a religious or intellectual aspect; of the nature of a spirit or incorporeal supernatural essence; immaterial.
In early use not always distinct from sense 1.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12170 He myȝt se weyl Þyng þat was spyrytuele. 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xv. 44 It is sowun a beestly body, it schal ryse a spiritual body. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvi. 74, I am noȝt erthely, bot spirituall. c 1475 Partenay 5291 When to ende nyhed he, That the soule moste yelde being spirituall. 1557 N.T. (Genev.) Eph. vi. 12 For we wrestle not against fleshe and bloud: but..against spiritual wickednesses. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. i. §17 If there be then such things in the World which matter and motion cannot be the causes of then there are certainly spiritual and immaterial Beings. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 677 Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth Unseen. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Spiritual, said of a Being that has no Body, that falls not under the Senses. 1825 Coleridge Aids Refl. 67 The Will is pre-eminently the spiritual Constituent of our Being. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. ii. §17 It is degrading to the spiritual creature to suppose it operative through impulse of bone and sinew. 1875 J. P. Hopps Princ. Relig. ii. 9 The real man is the spiritual being who controls and uses all the faculties and organs of the body. |
b. Appropriate or natural to a spirit.
| 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 110 His Omnipotence, That to corporeal substances could adde Speed almost Spiritual. |
c. spiritual healing, cure or healing attributed to the agency of (a) spirit; faith-healing.
| 1899 H. W. Dresser Spiritual Healing vi. 54 How can I live according to the principles of spiritual healing among people who have no sympathy with the new principles. 1926 W. T. Walsh Sci. Spiritual Healing iii. 30, I announced a service of spiritual healing to be held in the church every Thursday morning after the celebration of the Holy Communion. 1980 Spiritual Healer XXVIII. 131 We have known many instances of migraine..being overcome through spiritual healing. |
5. Consisting of pure essence or spirit; volatile; spirituous, alcoholic. Now rare or Obs.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. vi. in Ashm. (1652) 95 All other Vessells be made of Glasse, That spirituall matters should not out-passe. 1626 Bacon Sylva §387 All Sweet Smells have joyned with them, some Earthy or crude Odours; And at some distance the Sweet, which is the more Spiritual, is perceived. a 1648 Digby Closet Opened (1677) 125 Thus you have only the spiritual parts of the Tea. 1826 Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 69 Stout ales..labour under one material want—that of spiritual vigour. |
6. Of or pertaining to, emanating from, the intellect or higher faculties of the mind; intellectual.
| 1725 Watts Logic i. iii. §1 Spiritual or intellectual Ideas are those which we gain by reflecting on the Nature and Actions of our own Souls. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvi. v, That refined degree of Platonic affection which is..entirely and purely spiritual. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab v. 162 Blunting the keenness of his spiritual sense With narrow schemings and unworthy cares. 1853 Lytton My Novel viii. xi, Whatever she gained in the graver kinds of information, became transmuted, through her heart and her fancy, into spiritual golden stores. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life xi. iv. 417 The great spiritual function of the intellectual class. |
7. Characterized by or exhibiting a high degree of refinement of thought or feeling. (Cf. spirituel a.)
| 1784 J. Barry Lect. Paint. vi. (1848) 227 The harmony resulting from all those variegating masses of colour, together with the light, easy, graceful, spiritual manner in which the whole [picture] is conducted. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxxv, Those sad eyes were spiritual and clear. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xliii, The delicate face,..the too bright eye, the spiritual head,..told their silent tale. |
8. Clever, smart, witty. (Cf. spirituel a.)
| 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1834) I. 228 It may not here be improper to take notice of a wise and spiritual saying of this young prince. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. i. x, Of all this the spiritual biographies of that period say nothing. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. July 493/1 We French are extremely spiritual, and..are never at a loss for an answer. |
9. a. Concerned with spirits or supernatural beings.
| 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 69 Who acquired a very great and extensive celebrity for his attainments in spiritual and natural magic. 1855–7 (title), Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph, containing a number of extraordinary communications from the Spiritual World. 1860–1877 (title), The Spiritual Magazine. |
b. = spiritualistic a. 2.
spiritual funeral, one conducted after the fashion of the believers in Spiritualism (Bartlett).
| 1858 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (1859) 434 A spiritual funeral was held at Lowell lately. |
II. † 10. Of or pertaining to breathing; respiratory. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Þe schuldres ben nedeful to defende þe spiritualle membres. c 1460 J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 89 It signifieth good dysposicion of the hert and of the spirituall membris in a man. 1576 G. Baker tr. Gesner's Jewell of Health 169 Briefly, all matters found in the Lungs, and spirituall members, this singularly purgeth. |
B. n. I. † 1. a. collect. The spirituality; the clergy. Obs.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2414 It es a foly to offende oure fadyr vndire Gode... Ȝif we spare the spirituelle, we spede bot the bettire. |
† b. An ecclesiastic or cleric. Obs.—1
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 733 Haile speciose, most specifyit with the spiritualis! 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece v. 356 There are but few among them [Greeks], who have where⁓withal to live, but will learn, while they are young, to write and read, whether Spirituals, or Seculars. |
2. a. A spiritual or spiritually-minded person.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 365/2 He sayth himselfe that y⊇ spirituals do searche the bottome of gods commaundementes and fulfyll them gladly. Ibid. 715/1 The very Isaackes, the very Iacobs, and the very spiritualles, & the verye apostles. |
b. Eccl. Hist. (With initial capital.) A member of the Congregation of Narbonne, a branch of Franciscans which advocated a stricter observance of the rule of poverty and simplicity of dress.
The branch was pronounced schismatic by Pope John XXII in 1318.
| c 1791 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 447/2 The one [party], embracing the severe discipline and absolute poverty of St. Francis, were called spirituals. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xii. vi. V. 419 The Spirituals, the Fraticelli,..openly avowed their belief. Ibid. 420 The sudden election to the Popedom of Cœlestine V,..a new St. Francis, to the Spiritualists a true Spiritual. 1862 G. H. Townsend Man. Dates, Spiritualists, called also the Zealous, or the Spirituals. |
c. An inhabitant of the ‘spiritual kindgom’.
| 1807 Southey Lett. fr. Eng. (1814) III. 158 The celestials chiefly using the vowels U and O, the spirituals preferring E and I. |
d. U.S. A spiritual wife (see prec. 3 a).
| 1855 Putnam's Monthly Mag. VI. 147/1 These extra wives [of the Mormons] are known by sundry designations—some call them ‘spirituals’, others, ‘sealed ones’. |
3. a. pl. Spiritual matters, affairs, or ideas.
| 1582 N.T. (Rhem.) Eph. vi. 12 Our wrestling is not against flesh and bloud: but..against the spirituals of wickednes in the celestials. 1607 [see carnal a. 4 b]. 1625 Burges Tithes 14 Why he should pay so much of his Carnals for Spirituals. 1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibl. Introd. ii. 32 He condemns the contrary unskilfulnesse in the Scriptures, as the..root of all errour in spirituals. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. i. v. (1848) 86 Translate now (O my Soul) all this unto Spirituals. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 170 Twas no great piece of News to hear of Laymen's ministring in Spirituals to Church-People. 1774 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 303 I have found much pleasure in Madame de Maintenon's Letters (except in Theologicals and Spirituals). 1840 Mill Diss. & Disc. (1875) I. 433 Such was the prevailing tone of English belief in temporals; what was it in spirituals? 1893 Pall Mall G. 9 Jan. 3/2 Spirits and spirituals taken in excess..work the same effect with weak and over-excited brains. |
b. Matters which specially or primarily concern the church or religion.
| 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. vii. 25 There was but one Metropolitan.., so as his power was in spirituals over many Kingdoms. 1689 Popple tr. Locke's 1st Let. Toleration L.'s Wks. 1727 II. 246 If..such a Power be granted unto the Civil Magistrate in Spirituals. 1794 tr. Barruel's Clergy during Fr. Rev. 98 That it did not belong to the secular power to meddle in spirituals. 1853 M. Kelly tr. Gosselin's Power Pope Mid. Ages II. 360 That the Church and the pope have received..full power to govern the world, both in spirituals and temporals. 1873 Morley Rousseau xii. II. 178 The civil power does best absolutely and unreservedly to ignore spirituals. |
c. Spiritual or ecclesiastical goods or possessions; spiritualities.
| 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 536 Forming part of their spirituals (because such their spirituals always include an absolute right over other people's temporals). 1863 Blyth Hist. Notices & Rec. Fincham 39 The spirituals were such revenue as was connected with spiritual duties and the cure of souls, and consisted almost entirely of tithes, glebe lands, and house. |
4. a. A spiritual counterpart or analogue.
| 1650 T. Vaughan Anima Magica 52 Learn to refer all Naturals to their Spirituals, per viam Secretioris Analogiæ. |
b. A spiritual (as opposed to a material) thing.
| 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 97 In our notion of spirituals, we, as much as we can, denudate them of all material Phantasmes. 1708 H. Dodwell Nat. Mort. Hum. Souls 127 It does now affect us to think of Spirituals, whilst we have no sensible Impression made upon us by Things purely Spiritual, but by those only which are only Corporeal. |
c. Spiritual quality or power; pl. spiritual faculties.
| 1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibl. 239 The Succession of Elisha as Prophet in stead of Elijah; a double portion of his spirituall resting upon him. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. iv. xix, Spiritual light spirituals clears. |
5. = Negro spiritual s.v. Negro 7.
| 1866 Harper's Mag. May 775/1 Maum Rina flavored all her dishes with these ‘spirituals’, as they are called among the negroes. 1870 T. W. Higginson Army Life 197, I had for many years heard of this class of songs under the name of ‘Negro Spirituals’. Ibid. 199 This seemed the simplest primitive type of ‘spiritual’. 1926 A. Niles in W. C. Handy Blues 9 These songs [sc. the blues] were woven of the same stuff as the other overlapping items in the long list,—the work-songs, love-songs..; yes, and decidedly the spirituals. 1947 S. Bellow Victim iv. 39 Harkavy and a girl he had brought to the party were singing spirituals and old ballads. 1981 M. Doody in Martin & Mullen No Alternative iv. 53 ‘Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble’ as the spiritual goes. |
II. † 6. pl. The respiratory organs. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 161 Þis diafragma departiþ þe spirituals from þe guttis, & in þe holownes þat is aboue liggiþ þe herte & þe lungis. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xxii. xxiv. (1620) 848 The courses of the veines, sinewes and arteries, and the secrets of the spirituals. |