Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of theSeven churches of Asia inRevelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.
The dear goodangel of the Spring, / The nightingale.
1982,Douglas Adams,Life, the Universe and Everything, page50:
There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to beangels.Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though.
(Abrahamic tradition) One of the lowest order of such beings, belowvirtues.
A person having the qualities attributed to angels, such aspurity orselflessness.
Thanks for making me breakfast in bed, you littleangel.
2014 August 25, John Eligon, “Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise”, inThe New York Times[2],→ISSN:
Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was noangel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life.
1817, Thomas Stackhouse,A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved by G. Gleig, page504:
Anapostle, orangel, orbishop, as he is now called, resided with a college of presbyters about him, in every considerable city of the Roman empire; to thatangel orbishop, was committed the pastoral care of all the Christian in the city and its suburbs, extending as far on all sides as the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate extended;
1832,Edward Irving, speech before the Presbytery of London, quoted in1862, Margaret Oliphant,The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London: Illustrated by His Journals and Correspondence, page 429
[…] the head of that Church, in whose place I stand in my Church, and in whose place no other standeth (the elders and deacons have their place, but this belongeth to theangel or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying[…]
1878, Edward Miller,The History and Doctrines of Irvingism Or of the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, § 9Pastors, page 50 (discussing the structure of the early Christian church and of the Catholic Apostolic Church):
The second or highest grade consists of theAngels or Bishops of Churches. Each Church has itsAngel, who has (1) the higher supervision and care of all the flock, (2) the supervision and care of the Priests under him, and (3) the care of the Church itself.
2011, OECD,Financing High-Growth Firms: The Role of Angel Investors:
“Latent”angels are defined as those who have not invested capital in the past 12 months, although they likely have invested knowledge in the process of reviewing potential investments.
(theater) The person whofunds ashow.(The addition ofquotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
^Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, inThe Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book[…][1], 12th edition,Boston: Manning & Loring,→OCLC,page74.
Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “angel stm.”, inMittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “angel, adv.”, inMittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
eſtosangeles cõ q fablo abraã. vinieron a ſodoma e loth ſedia ala puerta dela cibdat. e violos e leuãtos cõtra ellõ. e omillos troa la tierra. e dixo les priego uos mios ſẽnores. Q̃ uẽgades acaſa de ur̃o ſieruo albergar.
Theseangels to whom Abraham spoke came to Sodom, and Lot was at the city's gate. And he saw them and he got up to greet them and groveled with his face to the ground. And he said, “I beg you, my lords, come spend the night at your servant's house.”
Idem, f. 4v.
[…] veno elangel del cr̃ador de noch ⁊ dixo alabã. Gvardate de aquel om̃e nol fagas mal.
[…] And theangel of the Creator came to Laban at night and said unto him, “Beware that man and do him no harm.”
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “angel”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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