Cardinal

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Cardinal \Car"di*nal\, n. [F. carinal, It. cardinale, LL.
     cardinalis (ecclesi[ae] Roman[ae]). See {Cardinal}, a.]
     1. (R. C. Ch.) One of the ecclesiastical princes who
        constitute the pope's council, or the sacred college.
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              The clerics of the supreme Chair are called
              Cardinals, as undoubtedly adhering more nearly to
              the hinge by which all things are moved. --Pope Leo
                                                    IX.
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     Note: The cardinals are appointed by the pope. Since the time
           of Sixtus V., their number can never exceed seventy
           (six of episcopal rank, fifty priests, fourteen
           deacons), and the number of cardinal priests and
           deacons is seldom full. When the papel chair is vacant
           a pope is elected by the college of cardinals from
           among themselves. The cardinals take precedence of all
           dignitaries except the pope. The principal parts of a
           cardinal's costume are a red cassock, a rochet, a short
           purple mantle, and a red hat with a small crown and
           broad brim, with cords and tessels of a special pattern
           hanging from it.
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     2. A woman's short cloak with a hood.
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              Where's your cardinal! Make haste.    --Lloyd.
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     3. Mulled red wine. --Hotten.
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     4. the {cardinal bird}, also called the {northern cardinal}.
        [PJC]
  
     {Cardinal bird}, or {Cardinal grosbeak} (Zool.), an American
        song bird ({Cardinalis cardinalis}, or {Cardinalis
        Virginianus}), of the family {Fringillid[ae]}, or finches
        of which the male has a bright red plumage, and both sexes
        have a high, pointed crest on its head; -- it is also
        called the {northern cardinal} or {eastern cardinal}. The
        males have loud and musical notes resembling those of a
        fife. Other related species are also called cardinal
        birds.
  
     {Cardinal flower} (Bot.), an herbaceous plant ({Lobelia
        cardinalis}) bearing brilliant red flowers of much beauty.
        
  
     {Cardinal red}, a color like that of a cardinal's cassock,
        hat, etc.; a bright red, darker than scarlet, and between
        scarlet and crimson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Cardinal \Car"di*nal\, a. [L. cardinalis, fr. cardo the hinge of
     a door, that on which a thing turns or depends: cf. F.
     cardinal.]
     Of fundamental importance; pre["e]minent; superior; chief;
     principal.
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           The cardinal intersections of the zodiac. --Sir T.
                                                    Browne.
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           Impudence is now a cardinal virtue.      --Drayton.
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           But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.
                                                    --Shak.
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     {Cardinal numbers}, the numbers one, two, three, etc., in
        distinction from first, second, third, etc., which are
        called {ordinal numbers}.
  
     {Cardinal points}
     (a) (Geol.) The four principal points of the compass, or
         intersections of the horizon with the meridian and the
         prime vertical circle, north, south east, and west.
     (b) (Astrol.) The rising and setting of the sun, the zenith
         and nadir.
  
     {Cardinal signs} (Astron.) Aries, Libra, Cancer, and
        Capricorn.
  
     {Cardinal teeth} (Zool.), the central teeth of bivalve shell.
        See {Bivalve}.
  
     {Cardinal veins} (Anat.), the veins in vertebrate embryos,
        which run each side of the vertebral column and returm the
        blood to the heart. They remain through life in some
        fishes.
  
     {Cardinal virtues}, pre["e]minent virtues; among the
        ancients, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.
  
     {Cardinal winds}, winds which blow from the cardinal points
        due north, south, east, or west.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  cardinal
       adj 1: 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" [syn: {central},
               {fundamental}, {key}, {primal}]
       2: being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order;
          "cardinal numbers" [ant: {ordinal}]
       n 1: (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
       2: the number of elements in a mathematical set; denotes a
          quantity but not the order [syn: {cardinal number}]
       3: a variable color averaging a vivid red [syn: {carmine}]
       4: crested thick-billed North American finch having bright red
          plumage in the male [syn: {cardinal grosbeak}, {Richmondena
          Cardinalis}, {Cardinalis cardinalis}, {redbird}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  213 Moby Thesaurus words for "cardinal":
     Gaussian integer, Grand Penitentiary, Holy Father, Titian,
     Titian-red, abuna, algebraic number, algorismic, algorithmic,
     aliquot, all-absorbing, antipope, arch, archbishop, archdeacon,
     archpriest, banner, bishop, bishop coadjutor, bricky, canon,
     capital, cardinal bishop, cardinal deacon, cardinal number,
     cardinal priest, carmine, carnation, carnelian, central, cerise,
     champion, chaplain, cherry, cherry-colored, cherry-red, chief,
     coadjutor, complex number, constitutive, controlling, crimson,
     crowning, curate, damask, dean, decimal, defective number,
     differential, digital, diocesan, dominant, ecclesiarch, essential,
     even, even number, exarch, exponential, ferruginous, fiery,
     figural, figurate, figurative, finite, finite number, fire-red,
     first, flame-colored, flame-red, flaming, focal, foremost,
     fraction, fractional, fundamental, glowing, great, gules, headmost,
     hegemonic, hierarch, high priest, highest, hot, imaginary,
     imaginary number, impair, important, impossible, incarmined,
     infinite, infinity, inflamed, infrared, integer, integral,
     iron-red, irrational, irrational number, key, lake-colored, laky,
     lateritious, leading, lobster-red, logarithmic, logometric, lurid,
     magisterial, main, maroon, master, metropolitan, mixed number,
     necessary, negative, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, odd,
     ordinal, overriding, overruling, pair, papa, paramount, patriarch,
     penitentiary, pivotal, polygonal number, pontiff, pope, port-wine,
     positive, possible, prebendary, predominant, preeminent, prelate,
     premier, preponderant, prevailing, primal, primary, primate, prime,
     prime number, principal, puce, pure imaginary, radical, ranking,
     rational, rational number, real, real number, reciprocal,
     rectangular number, rector, red, red-dyed, red-looking, reddened,
     reddish, reddish-amber, reddish-brown, round number, rubicund,
     rubiginous, rubric, rubricose, ruby, ruby-colored, ruby-red,
     ruddied, ruddy, rufescent, rufous, ruling, rural dean, rust,
     rust-red, rusty, scarlet, serial number, sovereign, special,
     stammel, star, stellar, subdean, submultiple, suffragan,
     supereminent, supreme, surd, tile-red, topflight, topmost,
     transcendental, transcendental number, transfinite number,
     uppermost, vermilion, vicar, vinaceous, vital, warm, whole number,
     wine, wine-colored, wine-red
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CARDINAL, eccl. law. The title given to one of the highest dignitaries of 
  the court of Rome. Cardinals are next to the pope in dignity; he is elected 
  by them and out of their body. There are cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, 
  and cardinal deacons. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. liv. xxxv. n. 17, II. n. 19 
  Thomassin, part ii. liv. i. oh. 53, part iv. liv. i. c. 79, 80 Loiseau, 
  Traite des Ordres, c. 3, n. 31; Andre, Droit Canon, au mot.