From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Demigod \Dem"i*god\, n.
A half god, or an inferior deity; a fabulous hero, the
offspring of a deity and a mortal.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
demigod
n 1: a person with great powers and abilities [syn: {demigod},
{superman}, {Ubermensch}]
2: a person who is part mortal and part god [syn: {daemon},
{demigod}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
demigod
n.
A hacker with years of experience, a world-wide reputation, and a major
role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or
known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine
demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker community
and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis
Ritchie (co-inventors of {Unix} and {C}), Richard M. Stallman (inventor of
{EMACS}), Larry Wall (inventor of {Perl}), Linus Torvalds (inventor of
{Linux}), and most recently James Gosling (inventor of Java, {NeWS}, and
{GOSMACS}) and Guido van Rossum (inventor of {Python}). In their hearts of
hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and
more than one major software project has been driven to completion by the
author's veiled hopes of apotheosis. See also {net.god}, {true-hacker},
{ubergeek}. Since 1995 or so this term has been gradually displaced by
{ubergeek}.
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