Cardinal
['kɑːd(ɪ)n(ə)l] or ['kɑrdɪnl]
Definition
(noun.) crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red plumage in the male.
(noun.) a variable color averaging a vivid red.
(noun.) (Roman Catholic Church) one of a group of more than 100 prominent bishops in the Sacred College who advise the Pope and elect new Popes.
(adj.) serving as an essential component; 'a cardinal rule'; 'the central cause of the problem'; 'an example that was fundamental to the argument'; 'computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure' .
(adj.) being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order; 'cardinal numbers' .
Edited by Adrian--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of fundamental importance; preeminent; superior; chief; principal.
(a.) One of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the pope's council, or the sacred college.
(a.) A woman's short cloak with a hood.
(a.) Mulled red wine.
Editor: Nat
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Principal, chief, main, leading, most important.
Typist: Vivienne
Definition
adj. denoting that on which a thing hinges or depends: principal; of a deep scarlet colour like a cardinal's cassock.—n. one of the seventy princes of the church constituting the sacred college at Rome to whom pertains the right of electing a new pope: a short cloak formerly worn by ladies.—ns. Car′dinalate Car′dinalship the office or dignity of a cardinal; Car′dinal-bird a species of grosbeak one of the finest song-birds of America probably so called from its red plumage.—adv. Car′dinally fundamentally: (Shak. Measure for Measure II. i. 81) carnally.—Cardinal flower (see Lobelia); Cardinal numbers numbers expressing how many; Cardinal points the four chief points of the compass—north south east and west; Cardinal virtues justice prudence temperance fortitude so called because the whole of human nature was supposed to hinge or turn upon them—the natural as distinguished from the theological virtues.
Inputed by Leslie
Unserious Contents or Definition
It is unlucky to dream you see a cardinal in his robes. You will meet such misfortunes as will necessitate your removal to distant or foreign lands to begin anew your ruined fortune. For a woman to dream this is a sign of her downfall through false promises. If priest or preacher is a spiritual adviser and his services are supposed to be needed, especially in the hour of temptation, then we find ourselves dreaming of him as a warning against approaching evil.
Inputed by Joanna
Examples
- Prudence was never a cardinal virtue of the Kentucky boy. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- An other piece of commonplace knowledge--the cardinal points of the compass--may be accepted, likewise, without inquiry or without recognition of its importance. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- From this starting-point I proceeded to step, having first taken the cardinal points by my pocket-compass. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Why man, one would think you were Cardinal Wolsey. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Ye have plundered my mails--torn my cope of curious cut lace, which might have served a cardinal! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Limerick is still a cardinal memory in the long story of Irish embitterment. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Mo dern excavations have demonstrated that the sides or the corners of the temples and palaces of Assyria and Babylonia were directed to the four cardinal points of the compass. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Cardinal Mazarin was himself building upon a foundation that Cardinal Richelieu, the contemporary of King James I of England, had prepared for him. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- One was a bronze image of the Duc de Richelieu, grand-nephew of the splendid Cardinal. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- An attempted revival was made under Louis XIV by Cardinal Richelieu. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Charles on his way from Spain to Germany visited England and secured the support of Henry against Francis by bribing his minister, Cardinal Wolsey. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He also visited Rome, where he was received with the greatest good-will by Pope Paul V and his cardinals, and where he met the leading scientists of the capital. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Many of the cardinals were of French origin, and their habits and associations were rooted deep at Avignon. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- In another, a barber, an abbot, and two cardinals. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- He knelt before ten cardinals in scarlet, an assembly august enough to overawe truth itself, while he amended the creation he had disarranged. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Edited by Dwight