Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Gnostic"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gnostic \Gnos"tic\, a.
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 heresy.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gnostic \Gnos"tic\, n. [L. gnosticus, Gr. ? good at knowing,
sagacious; as a n., man that claims to have a deeper wisdom,
fr. gignw`skein 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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
Gnostic
adj 1: of or relating to Gnosticism; "Gnostic writings" [syn: {Gnostic}]
2: possessing intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual
things [ant: {agnostic}]
n : an advocate of gnosticism
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