Sibylline

2 definitions found

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

  Sibylline \Sib"yl*line\, a. [L. sibyllinus.]
     Pertaining to the sibyls; uttered, written, or composed by
     sibyls; like the productions of sibyls.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Sibylline books}.


     (a) (Rom. Antiq.) Books or documents of prophecies in verse
         concerning the fate of the Roman empire, said to have
         been purchased by Tarquin the Proud from a sibyl.
     (b) Certain Jewish and early Christian writings purporting to
         have been prophetic and of sibylline origin. They date
         from 100 b. c. to a. d. 500.
         [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sibylline
       adj 1: resembling or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy; "the
              high priest's divinatory pronouncement"; "mantic
              powers"; "a kind of sibylline book with ready and
              infallible answers to questions" [syn: {divinatory}, {mantic},
               {sibyllic}, {vatic}, {vatical}]
       2: having a secret or hidden meaning; "cabalistic symbols
          engraved in stone"; "cryptic writings"; "thoroughly
          sibylline in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther
          [syn: {cabalistic}, {kabbalistic}, {qabalistic}, {cryptic},
           {cryptical}]