demolitionist (demolish on ist)

[ demon(dē'mon), n. [Also, in L. spelling, dæmon; = D. demon = G. Sw. dämon = Dan. dæmon = OF. demon, F.démon (cf. Pr. demon i = Sp. Pg. It. demonio, Numidian crane, An thro poi des virgo: so called In Gr. myth., a supernatural agent or in tell i from its gracefulne and symmetry of form. IMG:content-2342.png:[blocks in formation] gence, lower in rank than a god; a spirit holding a middle place between gods and men; one of a cla of ministering spirits, sometimes regarded as including the souls of deceased persons; a genius: as, the demon or good genius of So crates. Sometimes written daimon. Thy dæmon (that's thy spirit which keeps thee) is Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable. Shak., A. and C., ii. 3. IMG:content-2343.jpg:[ocr errors] IMG:content-2344.jpg:[graphic] demon Those Demons that are found In fire, air, flood, or under ground, Whose power hath a true consent With planet, or with element. Milton, Il Penseroso, 1. 93. Soon was a world of holy demons made, Aërial spirits, by great Jove design'd To be on earth the guardians of mankind. T. Cooke , tr. of Hesiod's Works and Days, i. A dæmon , in the philosophy of Plato, though inferior to a deity, was not an evil spirit, and it is extremely doubtful whether the existence of evil dæmons was known either to the Greeks or Romans till about the time of the advent of Christ. Lecky , Europ. Morals, I. 404. 2. An evil spirit; a devil: from the belief of the early Christian world that all the divinities of the pagans were devils. If that same demon , that hath gull'd thee thus, Should with his lion gait walk the whole world, He might return to vasty Tartar back, And tell the legions, I can never win A soul so easy as that English man's. Shak ., Hen. V., ii. 2. IMG:content-2345.png:[blocks in formation]