satan

plural satans

1. alternativeAlternative form of Satan (especially in the sense "a demon follower of Satan; a fallen angel").

   2 more examples

   According to Wahb b. Munnabih, Muhammad b. Ka‘b, and other authorities: Solomon was led to this [test of her intelligence] because the satans feared that he would marry her and make her desirous of having his offspring. She would then disclose to him the secrets of the jinn, and they would never rid themselves of their subservience to Solomon and his offspring to follow.

   1993, Jacob Lassner, Demonizing the Queen of Sheba, page 199

   He tells them to go away, calling them ‘You little satans!’ and then the children′s faces become ghoulish and they begin snapping at him, trying to bite him. A short time later, we see Judas being chased by about a dozen of these children; he falls and they kick and hit him. Twice, we see the figure of Satan (recognizable from the opening scene) standing among the demon-children.

   2004, Mark Allan Powell, “6: Satan and the Demons”, in Kathleen E. Corley, Robert L. Webb, editors, Jesus and Mel Gibson′s The Passion of the Christ: The Film, the Gospels and the Claims of History, page 72

plural satans

1. obsoleteObsolete form of satin.

alternative satan · alternative Satanas · alternative Sathanas · alternative obsolete Sathan

1. lifestyleThe supreme evil spirit in the Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil; (Theistic Satanism) the same figure, regarded as a deity to be revered and worshipped.

   Many Satanists reject the notion that Satan is bad.

   5 more examples

   And he shewed me Ioshua the high Priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. / And the Lord said vnto Satan; The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, euen the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Zechariah 3:1–2

   Would you two please draw in a little closer? / No — no, that’s not a smile there. That’s a grin. / Satan, what ails you? Where’s the famous tongue, / Thou onetime Prince of Conversationists?

   1945, Robert Frost, A Masque of Reason

   Having been captured by the forces of Christ, the souls are now attacked for the first time by their former captain in “Satans Rage at them in their Conversion.″ Satan′s basic line of attack is to accuse the souls of being unreliable converts. Just as the souls turned from Satan to Christ, so too they will turn back again when it suits them, says Satan.

   1997, Martin Schuldiner, “Puritan Casuistry”, in Martin Schuldiner, editor, The Tayloring Shop: Essays on the Poetry of Edward Taylor in Honor of Thomas M. and Virginia L. Davis, page 125

   The conventional role of Satan in English mystery plays was the Trickster archetype adapted for a theatre that was both popular and religious but constrained by traditional Christian theology. / The Satan of the mystery plays was a Trickster, but a dignified one.

   1998, Wendy Griswold, “8: The Devil, social change, and Jacobean theatre”, in Philip Smith, editor, The New American Cultural Sociology, page 127

   Biblical scholars tell us that the idea of a purely evil being like the Devil or Satan was a late development in the Bible. In the book of Job, Satan was the heavenly district attorney whose job it was to test the faith of those who, like Job, were specially blessed. / During the Persian conquest of the Israelites, the Satan of Job became fused with the Zoroastrian dualistic theology adopted by the Persians, where two opposing forces, one of good, Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Creator deity, was in a constant battle with Ahriman, the absolute god of evil. This polarized dualism was present in the theology of the Essenes and took hold in Christianity where God and his Son Jesus were in constant battle with the highest fallen angel, Satan, for human souls. This dualism persists today only in fundamentalist religions (Muslim terrorists, the Taliban, the extreme Christian Right and a major part of evangelical Christianity).

   2005, John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame That Binds You, page 2

2. countableA person or animal regarded as particularly malignant, detestable, or evil; used as an epithet or as a name for an animal.

   'Cause I finished with him, so I just felt kind of relieved and empowered afterwards, you know? He was tryin' to dilute my squash, and I was like, "Not today, Satan."

   2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Yas (Vivian Oparah)

plural Satans · alternative satan · alternative Satanas · alternative Sathanas · alternative obsolete Sathan

1. countableA 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

   1 more example

   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.

   Synonyms: Azazel, devil, demon, imp

2. Anything that causes destruction or is viewed as evil.

   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

   1 more example

   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