Crossword clues for hieroglyphic
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hieroglyph \Hi"er*o*glyph\, Hieroglyphic \Hi`er*o*glyph"ic\, n.
A sacred character; a character used in picture writing, as of the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Specifically, in the plural, the picture writing of the ancient Egyptian priests. It is made up of three, or, as some say, four classes of characters: first, the hieroglyphic proper, or figurative, in which the representation of the object conveys the idea of the object itself; second, the ideographic, consisting of symbols representing ideas, not sounds, as an ostrich feather is a symbol of truth; third, the phonetic, consisting of symbols employed as syllables of a word, or as letters of the alphabet, having a certain sound, as a hawk represented the vowel a.
Any character or figure which has, or is supposed to have, a hidden or mysterious significance; hence, any unintelligible or illegible character or mark. [Colloq.]
Hieroglyphic \Hi`er*o*glyph"ic\, Hieroglyphical \Hi`er*o*glyph"ic*al\, a. [L. hieroglyphicus, Gr. ?; "iero`s sacred + gly`fein to carve: cf. F. hi['e]roglyphique.]
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Emblematic; expressive of some meaning by characters, pictures, or figures; as, hieroglyphic writing; a hieroglyphic obelisk.
Pages no better than blanks to common minds, to his, hieroglyphical of wisest secrets.
--Prof. Wilson. Resembling hieroglyphics; not decipherable. ``An hieroglyphical scrawl.''
--Sir W. Scott.of or pertaining to hieroglyphs. [WordNet sense 1]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
a. 1 of, relating to, or written with this system of symbols 2 difficult to decipher n. 1 (context chiefly in the plural English) a writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds as a rebus 2 any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph 3 (context by extension English) undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol
WordNet
adj. resembling hieroglyphic writing [syn: hieroglyphical]
written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols [syn: hieroglyphical]
n. writing that resembles hieroglyphics (usually by being illegible) [syn: hieroglyph]
a writing system using picture symbols; used in ancient Egypt [syn: hieroglyph]
Usage examples of "hieroglyphic".
Again: such an explanation of the motive for embalming cannot be correct, because in the hieroglyphic representations of the passage to the judgment the separate soul is often depicted as hovering over the body, 6 or as kneeling before the judges, or as pursuing its adventures through the various realms of the creation.
Oriental Society, and delivered a paper on the Hieroglyphic and Demotic inscriptions of El Kab, thus giving a crowning example both of the versatility and of the inconstancy of his talents.
FISK, On which was a written not in words, 405 But hieroglyphic mute of birds, Many rare pithy saws concerning The worth of astrologic learning.
But only a little later, beneath the smaller, shabbier superstructures of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids, a sort of Hall of Records seemed to have been deliberately created: a permanent exhibition of copies or translations of archaic documents which was, at the same time, an unprecedented and unsurpassed masterpiece of scribal and hieroglyphic art.
Deity whom they worshipped, or by the name of the insigne and hieroglyphic under which their country was denoted, every depredation made by such people was placed to the account of the Deity under such a device.
The symbols, except that for Cauac, are too plain to admit of doubt, and there is no difficulty in reference to Cauac, the question of doubt being with regard to the Ahau, which is partially surrounded by other characters and may, apparently, be as correctly considered a part of the hieroglyphic inscription as of the day column.
Even the explanatory hieroglyphic texts ran in colors, lining the walls and winding around the cylinders of stone.
Since it is very easy to learn this alphabet, because of its very small number of elements, everyone is able to devote to reflection and to the analysis of ideas the time that the hieroglyphic peoples wasted in learning how to write.
Egyptians had two kinds of writing-the hieroglyphic, which was generally used for monumental inscriptions, and in which the letters consisted of conventional representations of various objects, mathematical and arbitrary symbols, and the hieratic, used for writing on papyrus, and in which, with the view of saving time, the written pictures underwent so many alterations and abbreviations that the originals could hardly be recognized.
By my retentive memory of the hieroglyphics upon one Sperm Whale in particular, I was much struck with a plate representing the old Indian characters chiselled on the famous hieroglyphic palisades on the banks of the Upper Mississippi.
Hieroglyphic transcript of the Papyrus of Nu, with one collotype plate.
For that purpose it is sufficient to understand the system of universal analogies, such as Swedenborg has set it forth in the hieroglyphic key of the arcana.
Coloured reproduction of the hieratic text of the Book of Breathings, with hieroglyphic transcript and translation.
I have a sabbatical next year, and the money you've generously paid me will allow me to devote the entire year to studying the Hieroglyphic Stairway in the Mayan ruins at Copan in Honduras.
There were treasures from Mexico and Peru, from every romantic bit of the wonderful countries south of us— blocks of porphyry with quaint grecques and hieroglyphic painting from Mitla, copper axes and pottery from Cuzco, sculptured stones and mosaics, jugs, cups, vases, little gods and great, sacrificial stones, a treasure house of Aztec and Inca lore—enough to keep one occupied for hours merely to look at.