Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One possessed by an evil spirit; a demoniac.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Eccl. Antiq.) One possessed by an evil spirit; a demoniac.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person
possessed by an evil ghost, spirit, orentity . - noun A
frantic andhysterical person.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So what if I am quite a spectacular energumen, at least I'm full of surprises.
Gayired.com - Gay OnLine Community for Entertainment and Daily News Mona Elyafi 2009
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On the left is a prostrate energumen striking his forehead against the ground, with
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At any rate, in Oxford the young energumen found himself happy and merry beyond words: he worked brilliantly, was a notable figure in the Union debates, argued passionately against every conventional English tradition, and attacked authority, complacence, and fetichism of every kind.
Shandygaff Christopher Morley 1923
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Nevertheless, they did not make him out to be an energumen for all that.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913
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His verses I detest, but I love to hear him recite them -- he has the air of an energumen.
Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II. John Morley 1880
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A few hours had sufficed to break the spirit of the energumen, who now declared that he recognized the authority of the magistrates and begged forgiveness for having insulted them.
Là-bas Keene [Translator] Wallace 1877
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And in a leading article of the "Trumpet," Keck characterized Ladislaw's speech at a Reform meeting as "the violence of an energumen -- a miserable effort to shroud in the brilliancy of fireworks the daring of irresponsible statements and the poverty of a knowledge which was of the cheapest and most recent description."
Middlemarch 1871
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And in a leading article of the "Trumpet," Keck characterized Ladislaw's speech at a Reform meeting as "the violence of an energumen -- a miserable effort to shroud in the brilliancy of fireworks the daring of irresponsible statements and the poverty of a knowledge which was of the cheapest and most recent description."
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In the first place, it is my duty to acknowledge that but for your interference yesterday the gigantic energumen by whom I was unexpectedly beset would have slain me.
The Prince of India — Volume 01 Lewis Wallace 1866
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Ladislaw's speech at a Reform meeting as "the violence of an energumen -- a miserable effort to shroud in the brilliancy of fireworks the daring of irresponsible statements and the poverty of a knowledge which was of the cheapest and most recent description."
Middlemarch George Eliot 1849
yarb commented on the word energumen
One possessed by an evil spirit; a demoniac.
'Keck characterized Ladislaw's speech at a Reform meeting as "the violence of an energumen--a miserable effort to shroud in the brilliancy of fireworks the daring of irresponsible statements and the poverty of a knowledge which was of the cheapest and most recent description."
"That was a rattling article yesterday, Keck," said Dr. Sprague, with sarcastic intentions. "But what is an energumen?"
"Oh, a term that came up in the French Revolution," said Keck.'
- George Eliot, Middlemarch
February 21, 2008
lquilter commented on the word energumen
"Ervil (LeBaron) was a charismatic energumen in the tradition of Charles Manson and, more recently, the Reverend Jim Jones of Guyana fame."
-- source: Ben Bradlee, Jr., and Dale Van Atta, Prophet of Blood: The Untold Story of Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God), Chapter 15, pp.223-224.)
October 29, 2009