Sibyllineadj.n.
/ˈsɪbɪlʌɪn/ A. adj.in combination.1835 H. Miller Scenes & Legends N. Scotl. xi. 194 Here are a few sybiline-like leaves, the sole records, of his common, everyday affairs.
1. Pertaining to, uttered or written by, one or more of the Sibyls.In this sense usually with a capital, and qualifying books or oracles: on the nature of these see Encycl. Brit. XXII. 13.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle > relating to the Sibyls
Sibylline1579
Sibyllistic1797
1579–80 T. North tr. Cæsar in Plutarch Lives (1612) 738 That it was written in the Sybilline prophecies, how the Romaines might ouercome the Parthians.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 282 Concluding the whole business of the Sibylline Oracles..to have been a mere Cheat and Figment; and that there never was any thing in those Sibylline Books [etc.].
1725 D. Cotes tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 17th Cent. I. 21 The Fathers are to be excused for citing the Sybilline verses as true.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xi.361 The Sibylline books enjoined ceremonies of a more harmless nature.
1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 477/1 It may be that at this time a number of Sibylline oracles were forged and circulated.
1882 F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity II. 219 It had probably originated from the expectations of Jews and Christians, and is found again and again in the Sibylline books.
2. Oracular, occult, mysterious.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the occult > [adjective]
curiousc1384
mystical1516
cabbalisticala1593
occult1593
hermetical1605
cabbalistic1625
hermetica1637
adeptical1662
trismegistic1678
trismegistical1678
trismegistian1694
Sibylline1817
Sibyllica1849
occultist1893
widdershins1926
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle > relating to the Sibyls > oracular, occult
Sibylline1817
Sibyllica1849
1817 Coleridge (title) Sibylline Leaves; a Collection of Poems.
1835 H. Miller Scenes & Legends N. Scotl. i. 3 The Sibyline tomes of tradition are disappearing in this part of the country.
1852 A. Jameson Legends Madonna p. xliv Looking out, with..her slightly dilated, sybilline eyes, quite through the universe.
1888 R. Garnett Life Emerson i. 21 Her habitual mode of expressing herself was abrupt and sibylline.
3. Excessive, exorbitant.In allusion to the Sibyl who sold three books to Tarquinius Superbus at the price of the original nine.
ΚΠ
1859 A. Helps Friends in Council New Ser. I. Introd. 11 My terms are Sybilline.
1876 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. 2nd Ser. 224 To set a Sibylline value on their verses in proportion as they were unsalable.
4. Resembling a Sibyl.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle > relating to the Sibyls > resembling a Sibyl
Sibylline1837
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. v. iv. 244 See Camille Desmoulins,..rushing out, sibylline in face; his hair streaming.
1861 C. H. Pearson Early & Middle Ages Eng. ii. 14 Suetonius Paulinus penetrated to the sacred island of Mona, exterminated the priests and white-robed Sibylline women who thronged the shores.
B. n.
In plural, the Sibylline oracles or books.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [noun] > oracular message > from a Sibyl
Sibyllines1875
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 177/2 It was still the main object of the sibyllines to combat heathenism itself.
1895 S. D. F. Salmond Christian Doctr. Immortality iv. i. 411 These Sibyllines have come down to us only in the most confused and uncertain form.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.n.1579