n. [ L., bringing light, n., the morning star, fr. lux, lucis, light + ferre to bring. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 1. The planet Venus, when appearing as the morning star; -- applied in Isaiah by a metaphor to a king of Babylon. [ 1913 Webster ] How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! Is. xiv. 12. [ 1913 Webster ] Tertullian and Gregory the Great understood this passage of Isaiah in reference to the fall of Satan; in consequence of which the name Lucifer has since been applied to Satan. Kitto. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Hence, Satan. [ 1913 Webster ] How wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors! . . . When he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. A match{ 1 } made of a sliver of wood tipped with a combustible substance, and ignited by friction; -- called also lucifer match, and locofoco, now most commonly referred to as a friction match. See Locofoco. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. (Zool.) A genus of free-swimming macruran Crustacea, having a slender body and long appendages. [ 1913 Webster ] |