Middle English Dictionary Entry

spiritū̆āl adj.
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Entry Info

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

Note: Cp. espirituel adj.
1.
(a) Immaterial; consisting solely of intellect, purely intellectual; (b) having the properties of the immaterial: of virtues: unbounded, infinite; of torment: intangible; (c) phil. & theol. of form and matter: constitutive of incorporeal creatures; (d) of bodies: purified of the imperfections of gross matter; incorruptible.
2.
(a) Divine; originating with God; pertaining to the work of the Holy Ghost; ~ palais, the palace housing the Grail, so called because it was the site of a pentecostal experience; (b) eternal; ~ during (world), eternity; ~ time, translating L aevum; (c) supernatural.
3.
Pertaining to the imagination, imaginative.
4a.
(a) Originating in or affecting the soul; also, of a person, thing, an action, etc.: in a spiritual sense, corresponding spiritually to some earthly person, thing, etc.; (b) religious, as opposed to secular.
4b.
(a) Imbued with the spirit of God; pious; also, contemplative [quot. c1443]; (b) conducive to moral or religious improvement, edifying; ~ wisdomes, science ~, ethics; (c) devotional, religious.
5.
(a) Pertaining to the institution and authority of the church, ecclesiastical; ~ fader, one's ecclesiastical superior; (b) pertaining to the rights and jurisdiction of the church; (c) pertaining to the life and duties of the clergy and of members of religious orders; ~ subsidies, godes ~, the offices and duties of a member of a religious order.
6.
(a) Respiratory; ~ limes (membres), spirituels membres, the respiratory organs, esp. the lungs; (b) pertaining to the work of the bodily spirits, esp. the vital spirit; (c) tenuous, rarefied.
7.
Having the properties of air; rarefied, volatile, vaporous.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • c1500(1446) Morstede Surgery (Hrl 1736)112 : A wane ys but a place norychynge blode, And artyrye ys but a place of spunall blod.
  • c1500(1446) Morstede Surgery (Hrl 1736)112 : Sum bones ar ordayne to kepe & to defend certayne inward particulars as the skulle for the brayne, the breste bonne for the spunale membrys.
  • Note: New spelling
    Note: Could be misunderstandings of two separate abbreviations for spiritual.--per REL

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 6.(a)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. spiritual limbs (pl.).