sublime
(chemistry) To heat (a substance) in a container so as to convert it into a gas which then condenses in solid form on cooler parts of the container; (generally) to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.
(chemistry, archaic) To obtain or purify (a substance) in this manner.
(by extension, figurative) To raise (someone or an intangible thing) to a state of (especially moral or spiritual) excellence; to exalt.
Monimia hears not my complaints; her soul, sublimed far, far above all sublunary cares, enjoys that felicity, of which she was debarred on earth.
[H]e, the œconomist, disposer, and shepherd of his own kindred, subliming himself into an airy metaphysician, was resolved to know nothing of his flocks, but as men in general.
Call it not / Revenge; thus sanctified and thus sublimed, / 'Tis duty, 'tis devotion.
His very selfishness therefore is sublimed into public spirit: and this public spirit is stimulated to fierce enthusiasm by sympathy, by the desire of applause, and by the dread of infamy.
[…] Bob's countenance was sublimed by his recent interview, like that of a priest just come from the penetralia of the temple.
To cause (someone or something) to ascend; to raise (someone or something) to a high position.
To cause (juice or sap) to rise in a plant.
Especially of the sun: to heat (something) and cause vapours, etc., to rise from it.
To purify (someone) from a bad influence or from sin.
To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to exalt.
To raise (a physical thing) to a state of excellence; to improve.
[F]lours and thir fruit / Mans nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd / To vital Spirits aspire, […]
Ring for your valet—bid him quickly bring / Some hock and soda-water, then you'll know / […] For not the blest sherbet, sublimed with snow, / […] After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter, / Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water.
(chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
(chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.
(by extension, figurative) To become higher in quality or status; to improve.
(chiefly poetic, archaic or obsolete) High, tall, towering; also, positioned in a high place; high-up, lofty.
The Heroe, looking on the left, espy'd / A lofty Tow'r, and strong on ev'ry side / […] Vain is the force of Man, and Heav'ns as van, / To crush the Pillars which the Pile sustain. / Sublime on these a Tow'r of Steel is rear'd; / And dire Tisiphone these keeps the Ward.
(figurative) Of an aspect of art or nature: causing awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; awe-inspiring, impressive.
(figurative) Of flight: ascending, soaring.
(figurative) Of an idea or other thing: requiring great intellectual effort to appreciate or understand; very elevated, refined, or subtle.
(figurative) Of language, style, or writing: expressing opinions in a grand way.
(figurative) Of a person or their actions or qualities: intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior.
Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong.
(figurative) Of an office or status: very high; exalted; also, (used as an honorific to refer to someone of high office or status, especially the Ottoman sultan; or to things associated with such a person.)
(figurative) Of a thing: consummate, perfect; (informal, loosely) excellent, marvellous, wonderful.
(figurative, chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: dignified, majestic, noble.
(figurative, chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: haughty, proud.
His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar'd / Absolute rule;
(figurative, informal) Complete, downright, utter.
(obsolete, figurative) Elevated by joy; elated.
While thir hearts were jocund and sublime, / Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,
(obsolete, figurative) Of a substance: purified, refined; hence, of the highest quality.
(obsolete, poetic) Of arms: lifted up, raised.
(obsolete, anatomy) Of a muscle (especially the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle of the forearm which lies above the flexor digitorum profundus muscle): positioned above another muscle; superficial.
(obsolete, pathology) Of breathing: very labored.
(archaic) Something which is sublime; a sublimity.
(archaic) The highest degree; the acme, the height.
No solemn, antique gentleman of rhyme, / Who having angled all his life for fame, / And getting but a nibble at a time, / Still fussily keeps fishing on, the same / Small "Triton of the minnows," the sublime / Of mediocrity, the furious tame, […]
An aspect of art or nature which causes awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; hence, the great beauty or magnificence of a place, a thing, etc.
[T]he whole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts must approach near to the nature of what causes pain, and consequently must produce an idea of the sublime. Or if we take it, that one point only of an object is distinguishable at oince; the matter will amount nearly to the same thing, or rather it will make the origin of the sublime from greatness of dimension yet clearer.
A style of language or writing which expresses opinions in a grand way.
And, after, feigning pique at what she call'd / The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime— / Like one that wishes at a dance to change / The music—clapt her hands and cried for war, / Or some grand fight to kill and make an end: […]
That which is intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior in human life or human nature.
The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime, makes the ridiculous; and one step above the ridiculous, makes the sublime again.
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
(archaic) The quality or state of being sublime; sublimeness, sublimity.
[W]hatever Word or Sentence is Printed in a different Character, shall be judged to contain something extraordinary either of Wit or Sublime.
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