Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sibylline"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sibylline \Sib"yl*line\, a. [L. sibyllinus.]
Pertaining to the sibyls; uttered, written, or composed by
sibyls; like the productions of sibyls.
{Sibylline books}.
(a) (Rom. Antiq.) Books or documents of prophecies in verse
concerning the fate of the Roman empire, said to have
been purchased by Tarquin the Proud from a sibyl.
(b) Certain Jewish and early Christian writings purporting to
have been prophetic and of sibylline origin. They date
from 100 b. c. to a. d. 500.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sibylline
adj 1: resembling or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy; "the
high priest's divinatory pronouncement"; "mantic
powers"; "a kind of sibylline book with ready and
infallible answers to questions" [syn: {divinatory}, {mantic},
{sibyllic}, {vatic}, {vatical}]
2: having a secret or hidden meaning; "cabalistic symbols
engraved in stone"; "cryptic writings"; "thoroughly
sibylline in most of his pronouncements"- John Gunther
[syn: {cabalistic}, {cryptic}, {cryptical}]
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