daemon

noun — 5 senses

daemon

noun

US, UK /ˈdiː.mən/

Etymology A borrowing of Latin daemōn (“tutelary deity”), from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “dispenser, tutelary deity”).

1

Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences A minor deity or divinity.

  • 2018, Carolyn Graves-Brown, Daemons and Spirits in Ancient Egypt, University of Wales Press, page 46, On some apotropaic wands the hippopotamus daemon bites or devours a person.⁸⁸ On a well-known New Kingdom papyrus, Taweret, who is named, is listed amongst evil daemons.
2

A muse, a personified source of inspiration, especially one that also causes anguish.

  • That is why those of exceptionally "daemonic temperament", those who cannot early and thoroughly subdue the daemon within them, are racked by disquietude. Ever and again the daemon snatches the helm from their control and steers them (helpless as straws in the blast) into the heart of the storm, perchance to shatter them on the rocks of destiny.2012, Stefan Zweig, translated by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul, The Struggle with the Daemon: Hölderlin, Kleist and Nietzsche, Pushkin Press, unnumbered page:
  • 2015, Harold Bloom, The Daemon Knows, Penguin Random House (Random House), eBook edition, unnumbered page, Coleridge, deep in daemons, looked to them for his poetic power: They gave him Kubla Khan, Christabel, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He welcomed his daemon or genius and yet feared it.
3

An idea depicted as an entity.

4

Archaic Archaic spelling of demon.

Derived terms
daemonism, daemonology
Related terms
agathodaemon, cacodaemon, cacodaemoniacal, cacodaemonic, cacodemon, cacodemonic, daemonic, daimon, eudaemon, genius, muse, tutelary deity

daemon

noun

/ˈdiːmən/ · /ˈdeɪmən/

Etymology A reference to Maxwell's demon. The putative derivation from "disk and execution monitor" is generally considered a backronym.

1

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Unix A process (a running program) that does not have a controlling terminal.

Related terms
background process

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.