heathen : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: heathen	by the DICT Development Group
4 results for heathen
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
heathen adj not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam Synonym(s): heathen, heathenish, pagan, ethnic n a person who does not acknowledge your god [syn: heathen, pagan, gentile, infidel]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Heathen \Hea"then\ (?; 277), n.; pl. {Heathens}or collectively {Heathen}. [OE. hethen, AS. h[?][?]en, prop. an adj. fr. h[?][?] heath, and orig., therefore, one who lives in the country or on the heaths and in the woods (cf. pagan, fr. pagus village); akin to OS. h[?][?]in, adj., D. heiden a heathen, G. heide, OHG. heidan, Icel. hei[?]inn, adj., Sw. heden, Goth. haipn[?], n. fem. See {Heath}, and cf. {Hoiden}.] 1. An individual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater. 2. An irreligious person. If it is no more than a moral discourse, he may preach it and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. --V. Knox. {The heathen}, as the term is used in the Scriptures, all people except the Jews; now used of all people except Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. --Ps. ii. 8. Syn: Pagan; gentile. See {Pagan}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Heathen \Hea"then\, a. 1. Gentile; pagan; as, a heathen author. [bd]The heathen philosopher.[b8] [bd]All in gold, like heathen gods.[b8] --Shak. 2. Barbarous; unenlightened; heathenish. 3. Irreligious; scoffing.
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Heathen (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word _goyim_ denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the other _goyim_. They were a separate people (Lev. 20:23; 26:14-45; Deut. 28), and the other nations, the Amorites, Hittites, etc., were the _goyim_, the heathen, with whom the Jews were forbidden to be associated in any way (Josh. 23:7; 1 Kings 11:2). The practice of idolatry was the characteristic of these nations, and hence the word came to designate idolaters (Ps. 106:47; Jer. 46:28; Lam. 1:3; Isa. 36:18), the wicked (Ps. 9:5, 15, 17). The corresponding Greek word in the New Testament, _ethne_, has similar shades of meaning. In Acts 22:21, Gal. 3:14, it denotes the people of the earth generally; and in Matt. 6:7, an idolater. In modern usage the word denotes all nations that are strangers to revealed religion.