divine (div in)

and n. I. a. [ L. divinus , from God, or a god or heathen deity: as, divine perfections; divine judgments; the divine honors paid to the Roman emperors; a being half human, half divine; divine oracles. The Soul is a Spark of Immortality, she is a divine Light, and the Body is but a Socket of Clay. Howell, Letters, iv. 21. "Know thyself," was the maxim of Thales, the old Greek realist: a maxim thought so divine that the ancients said it fell from heaven. J. F. Clarke , Self-Culture, p. 93. Theology cannot say the laws of Nature are not divine ; all it can say is, they are not the most important of the divine laws. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 22. 2. Addre ed or appropriated to God; religious; sacred: as, divine worship; divine service, songs, or ascriptions. Ful wel sche sang the servise divyne . Chaucer (ed. Morris), Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 122. 3. Godlike; heavenly; excellent in the highest degree; extraordinary; apparently above what is human. Prov. xvi. 10. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. Over all this weary world of ours, Breathe, diviner Air! Tennyson, The Sisters (No. 2). A snug prebendary, rejoicing in the reputation of being the divinest wit and wittiest divine of the age. Whipple , E . and Rev., I. 10. He [Wesley] saw the dead in sin coming to life all around him; he pa ed his happy years in this divinest of labors. J. F. Clarke , Self-Culture, p. 79. 41. Divining; presageful; foreboding; prescient. Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill, Misgave him. Milton , P. L., ix. 845. 5. Relating to divinity or theology. Church history and other divine learning. South . Divine a istance. See a istance. - Divine office, the stated service of daily prayer; the canonical hours.- Divine right. (a) Of kings , the doctrine that the king stands toward his people in loco parent is , deriving his authority, not from the consent of the governed, but directly from God. This doctrine, which in English his- tory was especially developed under the Stuarts, though still held by some as a matter of theory, has generally ceased to have practical political significance. The Divine right of kings , independent of the wishes of the people, has been one of the most enduring and influential of superstitions, and it has even now not wholly vanished from the world. Lecky , Europ. Morals, II. 285. (b) Of the clergy , a claim of divine authority for particular persons and particular forms of ecclesiastical government. An instance in the Roman Catholic Church is the still unsettled claim of the bishops to power in their several dioceses, as opposed to the papal theory that they rule mediately through the pope. - Divine service, the public worship of God; especially, the stated or ordinary daily and Sunday worship; in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, the hours or the daily morning and evening prayer, and the celebration of the eucharist. Tenure by divine service, in Eng. law, an obsolete holding, in which the tenants had to perform certain religious services, as to sing a specified number of ma es, expend a certain sum in alms, etc. The divine remedy ( divinum remedium ), the root of Imperator i a ostruthium, or mas terwort, which was formerly highly esteemed in medicine, but seems to have few virtues except those of an aromatic stimulant. =Syn. 2. Holy, sacred.-3. Supernatural, superhuman. IMG:content-2932.png:[blocks in formation] I sauh ther bi chops bolde and bachilers of diuyn Bi-coo me clerkes of a-counte. Piers Plowman (A), Prol., 1. 90. A embly of Divines at Westminster. See a embly . - Ecumenical divines. See ecumenical . =Syn. 2. Clergyman, Priest , etc. See minister , n . divine (di-vin'), v.; pret. and pp. divined, ppr. divining. [ adevinhar )=It. div in are, Shak., Rich. H., iii. 4. IMG:content-2933.png:[blocks in formation] 3t. To render divine; deify; consecrate; sanetify. She.. seem'd of Angels race, Living on earth like Angell new divinde. Spenser, Daphnaïda, i. =Syn. 1. To prognosticate, predict, prophesy. 2. Το see through, penetrate. II. in trans. 1. To use or practise divination. They [Gipsies] mostly divine by means of a number of shells, with a few pieces of coloured gla , money, ., intermixed with them. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 109. 2. To afford or impart presages of the future; utter presages or prognostications. The prophets thereof divine for money. Micah iii. 11. 3. To have presages or forebodings. Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts. Shak ., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 6. 4. To make a gue or conjecture: as, you have divined rightly. divinely (di-vin'li), adv . 1. In a divine or god- like manner; in a manner resembling deity. Born from above and made divinely wise. Cowper , Verses from Valediction. As when a painter, poring on a face, Divinely thro' all hindrance finds the man Behind it. Tennyson, Lance lot and Elaine. 2. By the agency or influence of God: as, a prophet divinely inspired; divinely taught. In his [St. Paul's] divinely -inspired judgment, this kind of knowledge so far exceeds all other that none else deserves to be named with it. Bp . Beveridge , Works, I. xviii. 3. Excellently; in the supreme degree: as, di vinely fair; divinely brave. The Grecians most divinely have given to the active perfection of men a name expre ing both beauty and goodne . Hooker , Eccles. Polity. Divine lier imaged, clearer seen, With happier zeal pursued. M. Arnold, Obermann Once More, st. 75. divinementt (di-vin'ment), n. [ ment = Pr. dev in a men (cf. Sp. a div in a mien to ) = It. div in a men to ; as divine, v., + -ment.] Divination. North . divinene (di-vin'nes), n. 1. Divinity; participation in the divine nature: as, the divine ne of the Scriptures. divinene He seconde person in diuinene e is, Who vs a ume, and bring vs to the blis. Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 207. All true work is sacred; in all work, were it but true hand-labour, there is something of divinene . Carlyle. 2. Excellence in the supreme degree. 1707 alliferous deposits or water may be found by digging. It is usually made of two twigs of hazel, or of apple or some other fruit-tree, tied together at the top with thread, or of a naturally forked branch, and is grasp ed by both hands in such a way that it moves when attracted by the sought-for deposit. This method of searching for ore or water has been in use for centuries, but its efficacy is now rarely credited by intelligent persons. Shall we have most likelihood of succe if we dig from east to west, or from west to east?- or will you a ist us .. with your divining - rod of witches-hazel? IMG:content-2934.jpg:[blocks in formation] Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 1. 35. hearkened unto observers of times, Deut. xviii. 14. 2. One who gue es; a conjecturer. Locke. A notable diviner of thoughts. Bird-divinert. Same as bird - conjurer (which see, under conjurer ).