angel

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A typically benevolent celestial being that acts as an intermediary between heaven and earth, especially in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism.
• noun A representation of such a being, especially in Christianity, conventionally in the image of a human figure with a halo and wings.
• noun Christianity The last of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology. From the highest to the lowest in rank, the orders are: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations or dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels.
• noun A guardian spirit or guiding influence.
• noun A kind and lovable person.
• noun One who manifests goodness, purity, and selflessness.
• noun A financial backer of an enterprise, especially a dramatic production or a political campaign.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In modern theat. slang, one who advances money to put a new play on the boards: a financial backer.
• noun Same as angelfish.
• noun In theology, one of an order of spiritual beings, attendants and messengers of God, usually spoken of as employed by him in ordering the affairs of the universe, and particularly of mankind.
• noun Hence — In a sense restricted by the context, one of the fallen or rebellious spirits, the devil or one of his attendants, said to have been originally among the angels of God.
• noun An attendant or guardian spirit; a genius.
• noun A person, especially a woman, having qualities such as are ascribed to angels, as beauty, brightness, innocence, and unusual graciousness of manner or kindliness of heart.
• noun A human being regarded as a messenger of God; one having a divine commission; hence, in the early Christian church, the pastor or bishop of the church in a particular city; among the Irvingites, a bishop.
• noun A messenger.
• noun A conventional figure accepted as a representation of the spiritual beings called angels, having a human form endowed with the highest attributes of beauty, clothed in long flowing robes, and furnished with wings attached behind the shoulders.
• noun An English gold coin, originally of the value of 6s. 8d. sterling, afterward of 8s. and 10s., first struck by Edward IV. in 1465, last by Charles I. in 1634.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun rare A messenger.
• noun A spiritual, celestial being, superior to man in power and intelligence. In the Scriptures the angels appear as God's messengers.
• noun One of a class of “fallen angels;” an evil spirit.
• noun Archaic A minister or pastor of a church, as in the Seven Asiatic churches.
• noun Attendant spirit; genius; demon.
• noun An appellation given to a person supposed to be of angelic goodness or loveliness; a darling.
• noun (Numis.) An ancient gold coin of England, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael. It varied in value from 6s. 8d. to 10s.
• noun a bed without posts.
• noun (Zoöl.) A species of shark (Squatina angelus) from six to eight feet long, found on the coasts of Europe and North America. It takes its name from its pectoral fins, which are very large and extend horizontally like wings when spread. (b) One of several species of compressed, bright colored fishes warm seas, belonging to the family Chætodontidæ.
• noun [Obs.] standard gold.
• noun See Angel fish.
• noun (Mil.) a kind of chain shot.
• noun [Obs.] a perfumed liquid made at first chiefly from angelica; afterwards containing rose, myrtle, and orange-flower waters, with ambergris, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A divine and supernatural messenger from a deity, or other divine entity.
• noun The lowest order of angels, below virtues.
• noun A selfless person.
• noun military slang An altitude, measured in thousands of feet.
• noun An affluent individual who provides capital for a startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
• verb transitive, slang To support by donating money.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun spiritual being attendant upon God
• noun person of exceptional holiness
• noun the highest waterfall; has more than one leap; flow varies seasonally
• noun invests in a theatrical production