Ros`i*cru"cian (?), n. [The name is probably due to a German theologian, Johann Valentin Andrea, who in anonymous pamphlets called himself a knight of the Rose Cross (G. Rosenkreuz), using a seal with a St. Andrew's cross and four roses.)]
One who, in the 17th century and the early part of the 18th, claimed to belong to a secret society of philosophers deeply versed in the secrets of nature, -- the alleged society having existed, it was stated, several hundred years.
⇒ The Rosicrucians also called brothers of the Rosy Cross, Rosy-cross Knights, Rosy-cross philosophers, etc. Among other pretensions, they claimed to be able to transmute metals, to prolong life, to know what is passing in distant places, and to discover the most hidden things by the application of the Cabala and science of numbers.
© Webster 1913.
Ros`i*cru"cian (?), a.
Of or pertaining to the Rosicrucians, or their arts.
© Webster 1913.