Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Gnostic
Gnos′tic
,Adj.
1.
Knowing; wise; shrewd.
[Old Slang]
I said you were a
gnostic
fellow. Sir W. Scott.
2.
(Eccl. Hist.)
Of or pertaining to Gnosticism or its adherents;
as, the
. Gnostic
heresyGnos′tic
,Noun.
[L.
gnosticus
, Gr. [GREEK] good at knowing, sagacious; as a n., man that claims to have a deeper wisdom, fr. γιγνώσκειν
to know: cf. F. gnostique
. See Know
.] (Eccl. Hist.)
One of the so-called philosophers in the first ages of Christianity, who claimed a true philosophical interpretation of the Christian religion. Their system combined Oriental theology and Greek philosophy with the doctrines of Christianity. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived from the Deity by successive emanations, which they called Eons.
Webster 1828 Edition
Gnostic
GNOS'TIC
,Noun.
The Gnostics were a sect of philosophers that arose in the first ages of christianity, who pretended they were the only men who had a true knowledge of the christian religion. They formed for themselves a system of theology, agreeable to the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, to which they accommodated their interpretations of scripture. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual and material, are derived by successive emanations from the infinite fountain of deity. These emanations they called oeons. These doctrines were derived from the oriental philosophy.
GNOS'TIC
,Adj.