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hieroglyphic love

hieroglyphic

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.
  • adjective Written with such symbols.
  • adjective Difficult to read or decipher.
  • noun A hieroglyph.
  • noun Hieroglyphic writing, especially that of the ancient Egyptians.
  • noun Something, such as illegible or undecipherable writing, that is felt to resemble a hieroglyph.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Expressed in hieroglyphs; written in or inscribed with symbolic characters: as, the hieroglyphic language of Egypt; hieroglyphic records; a hieroglyphic obelisk.
  • Mysteriously symbolic or emblematic; hard to decipher or interpret.
  • In entomology, having distinct, irregular color-markings, suggestive of Egyptian hieroglyphs: applied to the elytra of certain Coleoptera, etc.
  • noun Same as hieroglyph.
  • Of or pertaining to certain vermiform structures which occur in the flysch, in Carpathian sandstone, and in the marine facies of the Cretaceous and Jurassic formations of the Alps. See II, 2.
  • noun One of certain vermiform structures, abundant in the Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks of some countries, probably in part the trails of mollusks or worms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Emblematic; expressive of some meaning by characters, pictures, or figures
  • adjective Resembling hieroglyphics; not decipherable.
  • adjective of or pertaining to hieroglyphs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a writing system of ancient Egypt, Minoans, Maya and other civilizations, using pictorial symbols to represent individual sounds as a rebus
  • noun any symbol used in this system; a hieroglyph
  • noun by extension undecipherable handwriting or secret symbol
  • adjective of, relating to, or written with this system of symbols
  • adjective difficult to decipher

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a writing system using picture symbols; used in ancient Egypt
  • adjective resembling hieroglyphic writing
  • adjective written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols
  • noun writing that resembles hieroglyphics (usually by being illegible)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hierogluphikos : hieros, holy; see eis- in Indo-European roots + gluphē, carving (from gluphein, to carve; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First coined 1726, from Middle French hiéroglyphique, from Latin hieroglyphicus, from Ancient Greek ἱερογλυφικός (hierogluphikos), from ἱερογλυφέω (hieroglupheō, "to represent hieroglyphically"), from ἱερός (hieros, "sacred, holy") + γλύφω (gluphō, "to carve, to engrave, to cut out")

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Examples

  • The point is that written texts, whether in hieroglyphic form or in Roman transcription, afford us a unique insight into the hearts and minds of the people who wrote them or those for whom they were written.

    Primary sources of Maya history - part two 2008

  • The point is that written texts, whether in hieroglyphic form or in Roman transcription, afford us a unique insight into the hearts and minds of the people who wrote them or those for whom they were written.

    Primary sources of Maya history - part two 2008

  • Written in hieroglyphic form with accompanying portraitures, the historical texts are based on an early form of the Maya language, probably Chol.

    Primary sources of Maya history - part one 2008

  • Written in hieroglyphic form with accompanying portraitures, the historical texts are based on an early form of the Maya language, probably Chol.

    Primary sources of Maya history - part one 2008

  • Having first described the Stabl Antar, he says: – In another grotto I found twice over the name of the city written in hieroglyphic characters, Çi-ou-t.

    A Thousand Miles Up the Nile 1891

  • Over the ears of this beast of heavy burden is engraved in hieroglyphic characters, "The great ass that carries his wife;"

    Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers 1891

  • This object is described in hieroglyphic dictionaries as a "cake," and it certainly does resemble a kind of hot cross-bun frequently represented in pictures of offerings; but the sign (pronounced nu) is really intended for a walled town, with

    Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers 1891

  • They seem to have consisted of scenical representations of the philosophy and religion of those times, which had previously been painted in hieroglyphic figures to perpetuate them before the discovery of letters; and are well explained in Dr. Warburton's divine legation of Moses; who believes with great probability, that

    Canto I 1803

  • "Well," came the quick reply from the cyberstacks, the raising of an eyebrow almost audible in the e-mail, "first: hieroglyphic is the adjective.

    Secrets of the Crypt - Arthur Phillips talks about how he came to write The Egyptologist 2010

  • After the fall of the Hittite Empire, so-called hieroglyphic Hittite was used to write inscriptions in the Luwian language.

    b. Economy, Technology, Society, and Culture 2001

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