Satan
nounCA, US, UK /ˈseɪ.tən/ · AU, NZ /ˈsæɪ.tən/
Etymology From Middle English Sathan, Satan, from Old English Satan, from Latin Satan, from Ancient Greek Σατάν (Satán), from Hebrew שָׂטָן (satán, “adversary, accuser”) and Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān, “satan, devil”). Doublet of shaitan.
1
A demon follower of Satan (principal evil spirit); a fallen angel.
- This literature refers to a major figurehead of evil called “Satan,” the leader of a group of angels also referred to as “Satans.” These Satans accuse people and lead them astray.1992, Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul′s Letters, page 67:
- 2007, Abdullah Yusuf Ali (translator), M. A. H. Eliyasee (Roman script transliteration), Osman Taha (Arabic script), The Qur′an, II, 102, page 15, They followed what the Satans recited over Solomon′s Kingdom. Solomon did not disbelieve but Satans disbelieved, teaching men magic, and such things as came down at Babylon to the angels Hārūt and Mārūt.
2
Anything that causes destruction or is viewed as evil.
- The most of these, such as various kinds of grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, butterflies, etc., are not peculiar to the clovers, while others do but little damage and need not be mentioned here. In a contest with any of them, the farmer is to a great extent powerless on account of their wide distribution and incredible capacity of increase in a very short period of time, and must rely, in his controversy with these satans, on improved methods of rotation, and on their natural enemies, the parasites, which by a wise and merciful dispensation of the Giver of all good, in due time, always hold them in check and prevent the total destruction of the crop.1898, Henry Wallace, Clover Farming, Des Moines, Iowa: Wallace Publishing Company, page 136:
- Hrothgar and his eldermen lived happily in Hereot Hall until the day that Grendel, a living fiend out of Hell, a Satan who ruled over swamps and marshes, came stalking toward them.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 21: