Miracle

6 definitions found

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

  Miracle \Mir"a*cle\, v. t.
     To make wonderful. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  Miracle \Mir"a*cle\, n. [F., fr. L. miraculum, fr. mirari to
     wonder. See {Marvel}, and cf. {Mirror}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A wonder or wonderful thing.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That miracle and queen of genus.      --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the
        established constitution and course of things, or a
        deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural
        event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the
        universe is governed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They considered not the miracle of the loaves.
                                                    --Mark vi. 52.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A miracle play.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A story or legend abounding in miracles. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              When said was all this miracle.       --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Miracle monger}, an impostor who pretends to work miracles.
        
  
     {Miracle play}, one of the old dramatic entertainments
        founded on legends of saints and martyrs or (see 2d
        {Mystery}, 2) on events related in the Bible.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  miracle
       n 1: any amazing or wonderful occurrence
       2: a marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of God

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

  118 Moby Thesaurus words for "miracle":
     Grand Guignol, Passion play, Tom show, amazement, antimasque,
     astonishing thing, astonishment, audience success, ballet, bomb,
     broadcast drama, burlesque show, charade, cliff hanger,
     closet drama, comedy drama, critical success, curiosity,
     daytime serial, dialogue, documentary drama, drama, dramalogue,
     dramatic play, dramatic series, duodrama, duologue, enchantment,
     epic theater, exception, experimental theater, extravaganza,
     failure, fantasy, ferlie, flop, gasser, gazingstock, giveaway,
     happening, hit, hit show, improvisational drama, legitimate drama,
     marvel, marvelment, masque, melodrama, minstrel show, miracle play,
     monodrama, monologue, morality, morality play, music drama,
     musical revue, mystery, mystery play, nonesuch, opera, pageant,
     panel show, pantomime, pastoral, pastoral drama, phenomenon, piece,
     play, playlet, portent, problem play, prodigy, psychodrama,
     quite a thing, quiz show, radio drama, rarity, review, revue,
     sensation, sensational play, serial, show, sight, sign, sitcom,
     situation comedy, sketch, skit, soap, soap opera, sociodrama,
     something else, spectacle, stage play, stage show, straight drama,
     stunner, success, suspense drama, tableau, tableau vivant,
     talk show, teleplay, television drama, television play,
     theater of cruelty, total theater, variety show, vaudeville,
     vaudeville show, vehicle, wonder, wonderful thing, wonderment,
     wonderwork, word-of-mouth success, work
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Miracle
     an event in the external world brought about by the immediate
     agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use
     of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed
     to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and
     the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an
     occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the
     intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either
     of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which
     govern their movements, a supernatural power.
     
       "The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in
     miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around
     us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the
     chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can
     control the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight
     from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor
     violated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true
     as to the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of
     iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth
     that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical
     forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate
     from and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not
     superseding, but directing and controlling all physical causes,
     acting with or without them." God ordinarily effects his purpose
     through the agency of second causes; but he has the power also
     of effecting his purpose immediately and without the
     intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed
     order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the
     possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand
     intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary movements.
     
       In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally
     used to designate miracles: (1.) Semeion, a "sign", i.e., an
     evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine
     message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8;
     John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts 6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and
     working of God; the seal of a higher power.
     
       (2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events; portents;
     producing astonishment in the beholder (Acts 2:19).
     
       (3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman power (Acts
     2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and higher power.
     
       (4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in
     working" (John 5:20, 36).
     
       Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers
     appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our
     Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his
     divine mission (John 5:20, 36; 10:25, 38). Thus, being out of
     the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they
     are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of
     God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man,
     therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that
     he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials
     that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these
     credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the
     authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both
     with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles."
     
       The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of
     the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and
     to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses
     were competent, and their testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers,
     following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle,
     because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that
     miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to.
     Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy
     evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any
     facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it
     is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary
     to our experience, but that does not prove that they were
     contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We
     believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that
     are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the
     ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must,
     as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to
     one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see
     fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles
     are not impossible, nor are they incredible. (See LIST OF
     MIRACLES, Appendix.)
     

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

  MIRACLE, n.  An act or event out of the order of nature and
  unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with
  four aces and a king.