Orphean, a. and n.
(ɔːˈfiːən)
Also 7 Orphæan.
[f. L. Orphē-us, (a. Gr. Ὀρϕεῖος, f. Ὀρϕεύς Orpheus, the famous mythical musician and singer of Thrace, in later times accounted a philosopher and adept in secret knowledge, whence the Orphic mysteries and Orphic doctrines) + -an.]
A. adj.
1. Of or relating to Orpheus, as musician and singer, who was said to move rocks and trees by the strains of his lyre; hence, melodious, musical, entrancing, like his music.
| 1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 45 Charme more then the Orphean musicke. 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 99 His soul engross'd th' Monopoly of Arts, And thy Orphæan skill could ravish Hearts. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 17 With other notes then to th' Orphean Lyre I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 157 Refractory feet, that will dance to Orphean measures. |
2. = Orphic a. 1.
| 1657–83 Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. 330 The most zealous abettors of the Orphean and Gentile philology, Porphyry, Hierocles, Celsus, and the rest. |
B. n. An adherent of the Orphic philosophy.
| 1818 R. P. Knight Symbolic Lang. (1876) 5 note, The Orpheans endeavored to express divine things by Symbols. 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 33 Mr. Davies is of opinion that the Orpheans were Druids. |
So ˈOrpheist = Orphean n.
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §20. 374 The reason of this difference betwixt the Orpheists and Plato..proceeded only from an equivocation in the word Love. |