Talk:ethereal

[f. L. ætheri-us or æthere-us (ad. Gr. {alpha}{ilenis}{theta}{geacu}{rho}{iota}-{omicron}{fsigma}) + -AL1. The uncertainty of the spelling began in Latin, the orig. ætherius from the Gr. being often written -eus after the ordinary Latin adj. ending, as in ciner-eus, lign-eus, etc.; this spelling is however generally rejected by mod. scholars. The spelling -eal is now perhaps the more common in Eng. Cf. aereal, aerial.]

1. Of the nature of, or resembling the idea of, the ether or lightest and most subtle of elements; light, airy, attenuated. 1598 R. BARCKLEY Felic. Man (1631) 366 In the world where-with we are environed [there is a continual ascending] from the elements and compound things, by the Æthereall substance to Heaven. 1638 WILKINS New World 1, The Elementary and Æthereal..doth not belong to the present Question, but of the Sea and Land, etc. 1857 WOOD Com. Obj. Sea Shore 27 In the kingdom of Ocean, water is the atmosphere, and, like its more ethereal relative, is ever rolling.

2. Heavenly, celestial. Chiefly poet. 1667 MILTON P.L. VIII. 646 Go, heavenly Guest, Ethereal Messenger. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. III. 56 Heroes, whose Etherial Root Is Jove himself. 1702 ROWE Amb. Step-Moth. I. i, Nor could the Breath of Art kindle again Th' Etherial Fire. 1743 J. DAVIDSON Æneid VII. 192 Steeds of Etherial Breed. c1820 S. ROGERS Italy, Meillerie 75 Bright and unsullied lives the ethereal flame. 1840 BARHAM Ingol. Leg., Nurse's Story, Ethereal Spirits, gentle and good, Aye weep and lament o'er a deed of blood.

3. Of or pertaining to the material heaven, or highest region of the atmosphere. 1513 DOUGLAS Æneis XII. Prol. 41 Phebus..Defundand from hys sege etheriall Glaid influent aspectis celicall. 1530 RASTELL Bk. Purgat. III. ix, Pure regyon ethereall where the sonne & the other sterres renne. 1610 HEALEY Vive's Comm. St. Aug. Citie of God (1620) 354 Porphyry reckneth gods that are either heauenly, etherall, ayery, watry, earthly, or infernall. 1638 WILKINS New World xiv. (1707) 115 The extreme Coldness of the Æthereal Air. 1744 AKENSIDE Pleas. Imag. I. 42 There to breathe at large Ætherial Air. 1821 SHELLEY Prometh. Unb. I. 275 Mischiefs sent To blast mankind from yon ethereal tower.

b. Pertaining to the terrestrial atmosphere, in opposition to the lower regions. So occasionally L. ætherius. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. IV. 706 Near the Confines of Etherial Light..Th' unwary Lover cast his Eyes behind.

4. Spirit-like, impalpable; of unearthly delicacy and refinement of substance, character, or appearance. 1647 H. MORE Immort. Soul I. II. xxiv, Ethereall corporeity, Devoid of heterogeneall organity. 1722 WOLLASTON Relig. Nat. ix. 199 The soul may be also perceptive of finer impressions and ethereal contacts. 1802 SYD. SMITH Wks. (1859) I. 8 It is not possible to endure the draggling and the daubing of Dr. Rennel, after the ethereal touches of Mr. Burke. 1810 SOUTHEY Kehama II. i, Only Kehama's powerful eye beheld The thin etherial spirit. 1847 DISRAELI Tancred II. xv, Her ethereal nature seemed to shrink from coarse reality. 1872 BLACK Adv. Phaeton xxi. 299 The far and ethereal masses of the Langdale Pikes. 1873 MAX MÜLLER Sc. Relig. 365 As men, we only know of embodied spirits, however ethereal their bodies may be conceived to be. 1879 W. J. LOFTIE Ride in Egypt 150 A faith which is so wholly ethereal as to be independent of facts.

5. Physics. Of, pertaining to, or having the nature of ‘ether’. See ETHER 5. In early use nearly = 1. 1692 BENTLEY Boyle Lect. 206 An æthereal subtile matter..may penetrate and pervade the minutest and inmost cavities of the closest bodies. 1810 VINCE Astron. xxiii. 252 Beyond the atmosphere of the comet, the ætherial air..is extremely rare. 1816 J. SMITH Panorama Sc. & Art II. 328 All the substances in nature..may be considered either as solid, fluid, aëriform, or ethereal. 1863 E. V. NEALE Anal. Th. & Nat. 159 That which propagates movement, the ethereal atoms. 1873 H. SPENCER Study Sociol. xvi. (1877) 402 Millions of such etherial waves must successively make infinitesimal additions to its motion. 1878 TAIT & STEWART Unseen Univ. iii. §114. 126 Something analogous to ethereal friction.

6. Chem. Of or pertaining to the liquid called ‘ether’ (see ETHER 6); resembling ether or its qualities. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 321 Ethereal tinctures are prepared in pharmacy. 1807 T. THOMSON Chem. (ed. 3) II. 414 A combination of two parts of sulphuric acid and one of alcohol..emits a smell perceptibly ethereal. 1818 FARADAY Exp. Res. viii. 24 Substituting a stream of æthereal vapour for the wick. 1838 T. THOMSON Chem. Org. Bodies 306 To distinguish acetal from acetic ether and other etherial liquids. 1844-57 G. BIRD Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 414 The ethereal solution of fat. 1870 SIR J. Y. SIMPSON Anæsthesia Wks. 1871 II. 23 As early as 1805, Dr. Warren of Boston employed ethereal inhalation.

7. ethereal oil. a. = essential or volatile oil (see quot.). 1694 SLARE in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 210 Some [Essential Oyls] are lighter than the best rectified Spirit of Wine..which has made our Chymists call them Ætherial Oyls. 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v. Ætherial oil, The pure liquor rising next after the spirit, in the distillation of turpentine, is called the ætherial oil of turpentine. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 503 The water..was previously impregnated with as great a portion of ethereal oil as it was capable of holding in solution. 1811 HOOPER Med. Dict., Etherial oil, Any highly rectified essential oil may be so named. 1884 BOWER & SCOTT De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 69 Drops of resin and ethereal oil in increasing quantity. 1887 Pall Mall G. 4 July 7/1 Absinthe..contains several ethereal oils.

b. In Pharmacy (see quot.). 1860 MAYNE Exp. Lex. 803/2 Oleum Æthereum, Etherial oil: a name for a sulphate of ether used only for the preparation of the compound spirit of sulphuric ether.

B. absol. and n.   a. absol. The ethereal principle, the spirit or essence. b. n. An ethereal being, a spirit, an immortal. 1661 EVELYN Fumifugium Misc. Writ. I. (1805) 215 The Ætherial, which is a certain Aer of Plato's denomination. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa (1811) IV. 356 There is no sex in etherials. 1854 S. DOBELL Balder xxiv. 154 A spirit Unseen, nor having organs to discourse The rare ethereal of its too divine And necessary beauty.

Hence e{sm}therealism, the state or quality of being ethereal. In mod. Dicts.