Heathen

6 definitions found

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

  Heathen \Hea"then\ (h[=e]"[th]'n; 277), n.; pl. {Heathens}
     (-[th]'nz) or collectively {Heathen}. [OE. hethen, AS.
     h[=ae][eth]en, prop. an adj. fr. h[=ae][eth] heath, and
     orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the
     heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin
     to OS. h[=e][eth]in, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide,


     OHG. heidan, Icel. hei[eth]inn, adj., Sw. heden, Goth.
     hai[thorn]n[=o], n. fem. See {Heath}, and cf. {Hoiden}.]
     1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or
        those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true
        God; a pagan; an idolater.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An irreligious person.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may
              preach it and they may hear it, and yet both
              continue unconverted heathens.        --V. Knox.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {The heathen}, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all
        people except the Jews; now used of all people except
        Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
              thine inheritance.                    --Ps. ii. 8.
  
     Syn: Pagan; gentile. See {Pagan}.
          [1913 Webster]

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

  Heathen \Hea"then\ (h[=e]"[th]'n), a.
     1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. "The heathen
        philosopher." "All in gold, like heathen gods." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Irreligious; scoffing.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  heathen
       adj : not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and
             Islam [syn: {heathenish}, {pagan}, {ethnic}]
       n : a person who does not acknowledge your God [syn: {pagan}, {gentile},
            {infidel}]

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

  93 Moby Thesaurus words for "heathen":
     Gothic, Philistine, agnostic, allotheist, allotheistic, animist,
     animistic, atheist, atheistic, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous,
     bibliolatrous, bookless, chthonian, deceived, disbeliever,
     disbelieving, doubting, ethnic, faithless, fetishistic,
     functionally illiterate, gentile, godless, grammarless, heathenish,
     heretic, heretical, hoodwinked, idol worshiping, idolater,
     idolatress, idolatric, idolatrical, idolatrous, idolistic,
     ill-educated, illiterate, infidel, infidelic, irreligious,
     led astray, lowbrow, minimifidian, misinformed, misinstructed,
     mistaught, nonbeliever, nonintellectual, nullifidian, pagan,
     paganish, paganistic, pagano-Christian, pantheistic, polytheist,
     polytheistic, primitive, profane, rude, savage, sceptic, sceptical,
     secularist, unbeliever, unbelieving, unbooked, unbookish,
     unbooklearned, unbriefed, unchristian, uncivilized, uncultivated,
     uncultured, unedified, uneducated, unenlightened, unerudite,
     unguided, uninstructed, unintellectual, unlearned, unlettered,
     unliterary, unread, unrefined, unscholarly, unschooled, unstudious,
     untaught, untutored, zoolatrous
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Heathen
     (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word _goyim_ denoted generally
     all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The
     Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner
     from the other _goyim_. They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23;
     26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites,
     Hittites, etc., were the _goyim_, the heathen, with whom the
     Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1
     Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of
     these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters
     (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps.
     9:5, 15, 17).
     
       The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, _ethne_,
     has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it
     denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an
     idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are
     strangers to revealed religion.
     

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  HEATHEN, n.  A benighted creature who has the folly to worship
  something that he can see and feel.  According to Professor Howison,
  of the California State University, Hebrews are heathens.
  
      "The Hebrews are heathens!" says Howison.  He's
          A Christian philosopher.  I'm
      A scurril agnostical chap, if you please,
          Addicted too much to the crime
          Of religious discussion in my rhyme.
  
      Though Hebrew and Howison cannot agree
          On a _modus vivendi_ -- not they! --
      Yet Heaven has had the designing of me,
          And I haven't been reared in a way
          To joy in the thick of the fray.
  
      For this of my creed is the soul and the gist,
          And the truth of it I aver:
      Who differs from me in his faith is an 'ist,
          And 'ite, an 'ie, or an 'er --
          And I'm down upon him or her!
  
      Let Howison urge with perfunctory chin
          Toleration -- that's all very well,
      But a roast is "nuts" to his nostril thin,
          And he's running -- I know by the smell --
          A secret and personal Hell!
                                                             Bissell Gip