subceˈlestial, a. and n.
[sub- 1 a. Cf. OF. sousceleste.]
A. adj. Situated or existing beneath or below the heavens; rare in literal sense; chiefly transf. Terrestrial, mundane, sublunary.
| 1561 Eden Arte Nauig. i. v. 7 b, The Emperial heauen, conteyneth three..Hierarchias,..the fyrste..called super⁓celestiall... The second is called Celestiall... The thyrde called Subcelestiall, conteyneth Virtutes, Archangels and Angels. 1627 Hakewill Apol. (1630) 45 All subcelestiall bodies..consist of matter and forme. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 4 The most refined glories of subcœlestial excellencies are but more faint resemblances of these. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §32. 497 The Dii Consentes, were understood by Apuleius neither to be Celestial nor Sub⁓celestial Bodies, but a certain higher Nature perceptible only to our Minds. 1741–70 E. Carter Lett. (1808) 35 Whether Mrs. Montagu may not be delighting herself with a tour through the coal mines, and have lost all remembrance of her subcelestial friends. 1911 Webster, Subcelestial,..Astron., exactly beneath the zenith. |
B. n. A subcelestial being.
| 1652 Benlowes Theoph. Pref., Sub-cœlestials, or Sublunaries have their Assignment in the lowest Portion of the Universe. 1708 H. Dodwell Expl. Dial. Justin 61 Speaking of the Difference between the Cœlestials and Subcœlestials, he makes their Life to be a Death to us, and our Life to be a Death to them. |