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d young of the crocodile as well as various snakes and lizards, and hence was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The common species of India (H. griseus), known as the mongoose, has similar habits and is often domesticated. It is noted for killing the cobra.

Of or pertaining to Idalium, a mountain city in Cyprus, or to Venus, to whom it was sacred. "Idalian Aphrodité." Tennyson.

An image or representation of anything. [Obs.] Do her adore with sacred reverence, As th' idol of her maker's great magnificence. Spenser.

To make an idol of; to pay idolatrous worship to; as, to idolize the sacred bull in Egypt.

Repetition; reduplication; reiteration. De Quincey. That Sacred ingemination, Amen, Amen. Featley. Happiness with an echo or ingemination. Holdsworth.

et society or order. Silence is the first thing that is taught us at our initiation into sacred mysteries. Broome.

A supernatural divine influence on the prophets, apostles, or sacred writers, by which they were qualified to communicate moral or religious truth with authority; a supernatural influence which qualifies men to receive and communicate divine truth; also, the truth communicated. All Scripture is given by inspiration of…

cated or given as by supernatural or divine inspiration; having divine authority; hence, sacred, holy; -- opposed to uninspired, profane, or secular; as, the inspired writings, that is, the Scriptures.

ect to either physical or moral damage); not susceptible of being profaned or corrupted; sacred; holy; as, inviolable honor or chastity; an inviolable shrine. He tried a third, a tough, well-chosen spear, The inviolable body stood sincere. Dryden.

An obligation; a vow. [Obs.] They bound themselves by a sacred lay and oath. Holland.

nd sisters. Of all the dearest bonds we prove Thou countest sons' and mothers' love Most sacred, most Thine own. Keble.

A grotto on the Palatine Hill sacred to Lupercus, the Lycean Pan.

A sacred inclosure or temple; -- so called by the islanders of the Pacific Ocean.

ing of human beings. If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximian had massacred the Theban legion. Macaulay.

age; to be intricate. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran. Coleridge.

s a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular. The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Matt. xx. 28.

A composition adapted to sacred words in the elaborate polyphonic church style; an anthem.

te or rosy flowers, followed by black several-seeded berries. The ancients considered it sacred to Venus. The flowers, leaves, and berries are used variously in perfumery and as a condiment, and the beautifully mottled wood is used in turning.

ve. Princes' children took names from their natal places. Camden. Propitious star, whose sacred power Presided o'er the monarch's natal hour. Prior.

s of great water lilies. The North American species is Nelumbo lutea, the Asiatic is the sacred lotus, N. speciosa. [Written also Nelumbium.]