Olympian, a. and n.
(əʊˈlɪmpɪən)
[ad. late L. Olympiān-us, f. earlier Olympi-us, a. Gr. Ὀλύµπιος of Olympus. The fem. Ὀλυµπία (sc. χώρα) i.e. Olympian region, Olympia, was spec. applied to a district of Elis in Greece, by the city of Pisa, where the Ὀλύµπια (sc. ἱερά), Olympia, or Olympic games, were held.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or belonging to Olympus; heavenly, celestial.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1329 Our Olympian or celestiall earth. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 3 Above th' Olympian Hill I soare, Above the flight of Pegasean wing. 1749 G. West Odes Pindar ii. (1753) I. 22 O Son of Rhea, God supreme! Whose kingly Hands th' Olympian Sceptre wield! 1818 Keats Endymion ii. 911 Light..quick and sharp enough to blight The Olympian eagle's vision. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. 262 What Professor Max Müller well calls his ‘Olympian manners’ never repelled me. |
b. A competitor in the modern Olympic Games.
| 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 27 June 7-f/6 The games are part of a 12-game tour for the Olympians, coached by North Carolina's Dean Smith, in preparation for the Montreal Games in July. 1977 Time 13 June 21/1 To support themselves during the rigors of year-round training, many Olympians have accepted deals from manufacturers and fees for appearing in track and field meets, hiding their earnings from Olympic, Amateur Athletic Union and international sports federations officials. |
2. Of or belonging to Olympia: = Olympic A. 2.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 53 Such rewards As Victors weare at the Olympian Games. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 530 As at th' Olympian Games or Pythian fields. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vi. 163 The Olympian games were held in Elis once in five years, during the summer. |
B. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of Olympia; an athlete who took part in the Olympic games.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 194 When that a ring of Greekes haue hem'd thee in, Like an Olympian wrestling. |
2. An inhabitant of Olympus; one of the greater gods of ancient Greek mythology; spec. (the Olympian) Zeus or Jupiter.
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. i. i, Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. 1894 Sir E. Sullivan Woman 85 If you entered a grove or bathed in a river, you might tumble over a nymph or a satyr, or perhaps an Olympian. |
Hence Oˈlympianism, the polytheistic system of the ancient Greeks, in which the gods of Olympus were the chief deities; Oˈlympianize v., (a) trans., to turn into an Olympian; (b) intr., to play the Olympian; Oˈlympianly, Oˈlympianwise advs., in the style of an Olympian.
| 1871 Echo 21 June, The Times..A little too Olympianly,..intimates that Mr. Gladstone's argument for the Bill ‘perishes on analysis’. 1893 W. C. Wilkinson in Barrows Parlt. Relig. II. 1247 Olympianism—if I may use such a word to describe a certain otherwise nondescript polytheistic idolatry. 1897 Edin. Rev. Apr. 460 Orpheus became in a sense Olympianised. 1898 G. Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 8 A..gemmed, elected few..its..game Olympianwise perform. |
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Sense A. 1 b in Dict. becomes B. 1 b. Add: [A.] [1.] For def. read: Of, belonging to, or characteristic of Olympus or its inhabitants, the greater gods of ancient Greek mythology; heavenly, celestial; god-like, majestic; also, aloof or superior in manner. (Later examples.)
| 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman i. 8 The Olympian majesty with which a mane..of hazel colored hair is thrown back from an imposing brow, suggest[s] Jupiter rather than Apollo. 1944 J. S. Huxley On Living in Revolution 116 In Olympian detachment from popular feeling. 1975 Business Week 17 Feb. 11/1 They [sc. the Irish] concocted Olympian heroes from the wars they fought, for themselves and for others. 1988 A. Storr School of Genius p. xii, To impose order upon the turmoil and confusion of so long a period of history required an Olympian perspective. |
[B.] 3. transf. or allusively. One who resembles the gods of Olympus in power, majesty, or detachment; a person of app. superhuman ability or attainment. Cf. Titan n.1 2 b.
| 1870 [see Titan n.1 2 b]. 1933 Canadian Forum May 319/3 Obviously there could be no conversation with an Olympian. 1952 C. M. Fuess Independent Schoolmaster xii. 189 Side by side with these Olympians are the less conspicuous who are glad for modest honors. 1976 Botham & Donnelly Valentino xvii. 120 The Olympians of the dream-making industry were exposed as mere mortals with very basic weaknesses of the flesh. |
Oˈlympianism n.: also transf., an Olympian sense of power, detachment, etc.
| 1982 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Aug. 915/4 Emerson's heirs..edited the Journal according to their own literary notions and their sense of family privacy and Emersonian Olympianism. |