- lucifer match
- Lucifer Lu"ci*fer, n. [L., bringing light, n., the morning
star, fr. lux, lucis, light + ferre to bring.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The planet Venus, when appearing as the morning star; --
applied in Isaiah by a metaphor to a king of Babylon.
[1913 Webster]
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! --Is. xiv. 12. [1913 Webster]
Tertullian and Gregory the Great understood this passage of Isaiah in reference to the fall of Satan; in consequence of which the name Lucifer has since been applied to Satan. --Kitto. [1913 Webster]
2. Hence, Satan. [1913 Webster]
How wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors! . . . When he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. A match[1] made of a sliver of wood tipped with a combustible substance, and ignited by friction; -- called also {lucifer match}, and {locofoco}, now most commonly referred to as a {friction match}. See {Locofoco}. [1913 Webster]
4. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of free-swimming macruran Crustacea, having a slender body and long appendages. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.