cherub

plural cherubs · plural cherubim · plural cherubims · obsolete plural cherubin

1. biblicalA winged creature attending God and guarding his throne described as a being with four faces (man, lion, ox, and eagle), human hands, calf hooves, four wings, and many eyes. A description can be found in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10; similar to a lamassu (winged bull with a human torso) in the pre-exilic texts of the Hebrew Bible, more humanoid in later texts.
2. post-biblicalA winged angel, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century) as the second highest order of angels, ranked above thrones and below seraphim.

   Over the arcke were the cherubyns off glory shadowynge the seate of grace.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Pistle off Paul unto the Hebrues ix:[5], folio cccviii, recto

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   So he [God] droue out the man [Adam]: and he placed at the East of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming ſword, which turned euery way, to keepe the way of the tree of life.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:24

   About his Chariot numberleſs were pour'd / Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, / And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd, […]

   1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 197–199

   O Daughter of the Roſe, […] / Whoſe Face is Paradiſe, but fenc'd from Sin: / For God in either Eye has plac'd a Cherubin.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “To Her Grace the Dutchess of Ormond, with the Following Poem of Palamon and Arcite, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   [B]y cherubs is signified guard and providence lest the Lord should be come at except by the good of love, thus to prevent any entering into heaven except they who are in good, also to prevent those who are in heaven, from being approached and hurt by those who are in hell. From these things it may be manifest what was signified by the propitiatory being over the ark, and by the cherubs being over the propitiatory and by the propitiatory and the cherubs being of pure gold; for gold signifies the good of love, and the ark heaven where the Lord is. [Interpreting Exodus 25:17–22 of the Bible.]

   1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, “[Exodus.] Chapter XXV.”, in Heavenly Arcana, which are in the Sacred Scripture or Word of the Lord, Laid Open. […] Exodus. […], volume XI, Boston, Mass.: Published for the proprietors [New Church Printing Society], by Otis Clapp, […], →OCLC, note 9506, page 345

   But I doubt not, that leathern tally, meant for man, was taken off in Heaven, when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and adoring cherubim!

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Whiteness of the Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 210

3. In later texts changed to a winged baby; in artistic depictions sometimes a baby's head with wings but no body.

   When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub – a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.

   1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter I, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 22

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   For ſome colour of ſetting vp their idols in Churches to bee worſhiped, they full ſimply alledge the Cherubins that were ſet vp in the temple which Solomon built, which M. [William] Bishop ſaith were the images of Angels, and that they did repreſent the Angels wee will not deny, but of what ſhape they were, no man ſaith Joſephus, can cõiecture or affirme any thing.

   1611, Robert Abbot, “Of Images”, in The Second Part of the Defence of the Reformed Catholicke. […], London: Impensis Thomæ Adams, →OCLC, page 1164

   Finally I must have drifted off, because I dreamt we were in a terrible frightening place – there was a giant, standing on a hill, looking down at us. But then a cherub came to rescue me – it must have been that cherub in stone that Papa promised to carve for me. I remember feeling safe then, and after that I slept soundly all night.

   1995, Catherine Gonzalez, Cherub in Stone (Chaparral Book for Young Readers), Fort Worth, Tex.: Texas Christian University Press, →ISBN, page 9

   The kennels occupied a long brick building designed to resemble the palace in miniature. Inside, the walls were painted with murals of dogs frolicking in the woods and giving chase to a frightened fox while chubby canine cherubim smiled down at them.

   2010, Pseudonymous Bosch [pseudonym; Raphael Simon], “The Royal Kennels”, in This Isn’t What It Looks Like (The Secret Series; 4), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN; republished London: Usborne, 2014, →ISBN

   Synonyms: amoretto, cupid, putto

4. figurativelyA person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.

   Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd Cherubin.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 71

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   This fell whore of thine, / Hath in her more deſtruction then thy Sword, / For all her Cherubin looke.

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 91, column 1

   [T]he zippy musical numbers in which Mary Poppins (a stiff-lipped Emily Blunt) whisks cherubs Annabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, respectively) away into colorful hyperreal fantasias impress.

   2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 May 2019

   Synonyms: angel, innocent