See Also: symbol(medicine)
symbol(dictionary)
sex symbol(dictionary)
symbol(encyclopedia)
symbol(2)(dictionary)
symbol(1)(dictionary)
F (symbol)(health)
Symbol(finance)
SYMBOL(law)
Symbol(money)

cult (iou) and symbol(2) (iou)


cult (iou)



cult noun & adjective. E17.
[French culte or its source Latin cultus worship, from colere inhabit, cultivate, protect, honour with worship.]
A. noun.
Worship; reverential homage rendered to a divine being. Only in 17.
Evelyn God, abolishing the cult of Gentile idols.
A system of religious worship, esp. as expressed in ceremonies, ritual, etc. L17.
K. Clark The cult of the Virgin. G. Vidal Like a priest of a pagan cult he began to perform the ritual of arranging plates.
Devotion or homage paid to a person or thing; esp. a fashionable enthusiasm; derog. a transient fad of an in-group. E18.
M. Girouard The cult of aestheticism was brought to England..by Swinburne and Walter Pater.
b. attrib. or as adjective. That is the object of a cult; involving or involved in a cult; cultic. E20.
Punch There has been a small cult-following for West. Listener One of the stars..has become an unlikely cult hero.

symbol(2) (iou)



symbol noun1 & verb. LME.
[Latin symbolum from Greek sumbolon mark, token, watchword, outward sign, formed as SYM- + base of bole, bolos a throw. Cf. SYMBOL noun2.]
A. noun.
a. Christian Theology. A formal authoritative statement or summary of Christian doctrine; a creed or confession of faith, spec. the Apostles' Creed. LME.
H. M. Luckock The Western Bishops, who alone adhered to the Nicene Symbol in its integrity.
b. A brief statement; a motto, a maxim. L16-M18.
a. A thing conventionally regarded as representing, typifying, or recalling something else by possessing analogous qualities or by association in fact or thought; esp. a material object representing an abstract concept or quality. Freq. foll. by of. L16.
incomplete symbol: see INCOMPLETE adjective.
K. Clark In his work clouds..became symbols of destruction. H. Kushner The wedding ring..is a symbol of intimacy and loyalty.
b. An object representing something sacred; spec. (Ecclesiastical) either of the elements in the Eucharist, as representing the body and blood of Christ. L17.
c. Symbolism. rare. M19.
Listener A readable book provided you ignore..Fowler's seeking after symbol.
d. Numismatics. A small device on a coin, additional to and usu. independent of the principal device. L19.
A written mark, a line, a dot, or a configuration of these, used as a conventional representation of a sound, word, object, process, function, etc., spec. of a chemical element or a mathematical quantity. E17.
terminal symbol: see TERMINAL adjective.
b. verb trans. Infl. -ll-, *-l-. Symbolize (something). M19.
symbolled adjective (rare) (a) represented by a symbol; symbolized; (b) decorated with symbols: E19.
symbolling noun (US) (a) the action of the verb; (b) the use of symbols in human communication; (c) a thing that symbolizes something: M19.