The Collaborative International Dictionary
Occult \Oc*cult"\,
[L. occultus, p. p. of occulere to cover up, hide; ob (see Ob-) + a root pro
-
akin to E. hell: cf. F. occulte.] Hidden from the eye or the understanding; invisible; secret; concealed; unknown.
It is of an occult kind, and is so insensible in its advances as to escape observation.
--I. Taylor.Occult line (Geom.), a line drawn as a part of the construction of a figure or problem, but not to appear in the finished plan.
Occult qualities, those qualities whose effects only were observed, but the nature and relations of whose productive agencies were undetermined; -- so called by the schoolmen.
Occult sciences, those sciences of the Middle Ages which related to the supposed action or influence of occult qualities, or supernatural powers, as alchemy, magic, necromancy, and astrology.
Usage examples of "occult qualities".
There is therefore some other hand that twines the thread of life than that of Nature: we are not only ignorant in Antipathies and occult qualities.
Then, the counting machines that proclaimed the triumph of the quantitative but in truth pointed to the occult qualities of numbers, a return to the roots of the notarikon the rabbis carried with them as they fled through the plains of Europe.