symbolicallyadv.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1307 Neither describeth he them symbolically.., but in proper and plaine termes.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 484 The lyon when he sleepeth hath his eies open,..and therefore the ancients did simbolically picture a lyon vpon the doors of their temples.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. ix. 36 Others symbolically intended are literally received. View more context for this quotation

a1677 T. Manton Pract. Expos. Lord's-prayer Matt. vi. 9, in Wks. (1870) I. 58 In the temple..God was present symbolically, because there were the signs and tokens of his presence.

1681 J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl. xii. §15. 197 Possession is attained Symbolically, where there is not use of the whole or a part, but only of a Symbol or Token.

1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §269 The Egyptians did symbolically represent the supreme Divinity sitting on a lotus.

1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. 54 The heaven those vain builders sought to reach, signifies symbolically the mind.

1899 W. R. Inge Christian Mysticism vii. 252 Light and darkness are..only symbolically connected with life and death.

1846 Sir W. R. Hamilton in Cambr. & Dublin Math. Jrnl. I. 48 We shall interpret an equation such as DC = BA..as denoting that the two lines, of which the symbols are equated, have equal lengths and similar directions;..if we call such lines symbolically equal, it will be allowed [etc.].

1851 W. J. M. Rankine Misc. Sci. Papers (1881) 50 To illustrate this symbolically, let V represent the volume occupied by unity of weight of the substance, [etc.].

1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 24 The binoxide of manganese is reduced to a lower oxide... What actually takes place may be symbolically represented as follows.

1633 D. Rogers Treat. Two Sacraments Gospell i. 66 The Sacramentalnesse and Symbolicalnesse of the things of God.

1838 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth (ed. 2) 1st Ser. 83 Nor is it without a prophetic symbolicalness that the sea fills so important a part in both the Homeric poems.