Hypertext Webster Gateway: "hieroglyphic"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Hieroglyph \Hi"er*o*glyph\, Hieroglyphic \Hi`er*o*glyph"ic\, n.
[Cf. F. hi['e]roglyphe. See {Hieroglyphic}, a.]
1. A sacred character; a character in picture writing, as of
the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Specifically, in the
plural, the picture writing of the ancient Egyptian
priests. It is made up of three, or, as some say, four
classes of characters: first, the hieroglyphic proper, or
figurative, in which the representation of the object
conveys the idea of the object itself; second, the
ideographic, consisting of symbols representing ideas, not
sounds, as an ostrich feather is a symbol of truth; third,
the phonetic, consisting of symbols employed as syllables
of a word, or as letters of the alphabet, having a certain
sound, as a hawk represented the vowel a.
2. Any character or figure which has, or is supposed to have,
a hidden or mysterious significance; hence, any
unintelligible or illegible character or mark. [Colloq.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Hieroglyphic \Hi`er*o*glyph"ic\, Hieroglyphical
\Hi`er*o*glyph"ic*al\, a. [L. hieroglyphicus, Gr. ?; "iero`s
sacred + gly`fein to carve: cf. F. hi['e]roglyphique.]
1. Emblematic; expressive of some meaning by characters,
pictures, or figures; as, hieroglyphic writing; a
hieroglyphic obelisk.
Pages no better than blanks to common minds, to his,
hieroglyphical of wisest secrets. --Prof.
Wilson.
2. Resembling hieroglyphics; not decipherable. ``An
hieroglyphical scrawl.'' --Sir W. Scott.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
hieroglyphic
adj 1: resembling hieroglyphic writing [syn: {hieroglyphical}]
2: written in or belonging to a writing system using pictorial
symbols [syn: {hieroglyphical}]
n 1: writing that resembles hieroglyphics (usually by being
illegible) [syn: {hieroglyph}]
2: a writing system using picture symbols; used in ancient
Egypt [syn: {hieroglyph}]
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