(a.) A sacred character; a character in picture writing, as of the ancient Egyptians, Mexicans, etc. Specifically, in the plural, the picture writing of the ancient Egyptian priests. It is made up of three, or, as some say, four classes of characters: first, the hieroglyphic proper, or figurative, in which the representation of the object conveys the idea of the object itself; second, the ideographic, consisting of symbols representing ideas, not sounds, as an ostrich feather is a symbol of truth; third, the phonetic, consisting of symbols employed as syllables of a word, or as letters of the alphabet, having a certain sound, as a hawk represented the vowel a.
(a.) Any character or figure which has, or is supposed to have, a hidden or mysterious significance; hence, any unintelligible or illegible character or mark.
(a.) Alt. of Hieroglyphical
Example Sentences:
(1) We now present evidence for the existence of this disease in humans, characterized by skin fragility, altered polymers seen as hieroglyphic pictures with electron microscopy, accumulation of p-N-alpha 1 and p-N-alpha 2 collagen type I in the dermis and absence of processing of the p-N-I polypeptides in fibroblast cultures.
(2) Taylor hopes even more secrets will be revealed in years to come, including being able to read hieroglyphic inscriptions on objects inside the mummies.
(3) Excavation records and translation of hieroglyphics provide a positive identification.
(4) When there was no longer any rainfall to fill up their reservoirs, the springs had dried up too.” For centuries, the Maya at Tikal had been erecting stelae – upright stone slabs with hieroglyphs and depictions of gods and rulers.
(5) And some of her lyrics, even viewed coldly on a page, are impressive: "I carve lyrics into cubicle doors like they were pyramid walls and these were hieroglyphs, hold pen with an iron grip, my mind is the storm and the words are the eye in it," she raps on one track, and yet when she adds, "Evil in the world, stay peaceful in spite of it; 'cause snakes have never understood the way the lions live", you don't think, wow, amazing, you think – nice simile, but what on earth do you mean?
(6) They then deciphered his name from a section of hieroglyphics inside the tomb.
(7) The results are consistent with a model of collagen fibril formation in which the intact N-propeptides are located exclusively at the surface of the hieroglyphic fibrils.
(8) Electron microscopic examination of the skin shows collagen sheets rather than fibrils, and characteristic distortions resembling hieroglyphs.
(9) What we found is that NFL salaries are about as understandable as Egyptian hieroglyphics.
(10) Detailed tomb and temple hieroglyphics depict wound treatments of that era.
(11) Surgical Papyrus known as "The Edwin Smith Papyrus" was published in facsimile and hieroglyphic transliteration with translation and commentary by James Henry Breasted in 1930.
(12) Worn away by these kinds of misinterpretations, the phrase became like an ancient hieroglyph, portentous but illegible.
(13) Photograph: Rex The Fifth Estate begins grandly with a montage of the history of media, from people chipping hieroglyphics on pyramids through the invention of the printing press to the televised announcement of John F Kennedy's assassination.
(14) Further incubation of the hieroglyphic fibrils with N-proteinase resulted in partial cleavage of the pNcollagen-ex6 in which the abnormal pN alpha 2(I) chains remained intact.
(15) I also loved watching ancient carved figures and hieroglyphs being restored by a specialist.
(16) People used to have to queue – the line would stretch to there.” There is a guilty, selfish pleasure in standing alone in the tomb of Tutankhamun, or having the stars and hieroglyphs in the tomb of Ramses IV almost to myself.
(17) Schafer (1954) advanced the "Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing" and asserted that thoughtful interpretation involved more than translating hieroglyphics or scores.
(18) As a result, viewers have been treated to an Eminem-inspired pastiche about Charles II , a Victorian Dragons' Den, "Spartan School Musical" and a Jackson 5-style explainer on hieroglyphics .
(19) Whether graffiti or just straight-forward pixação – as we call our spiky hieroglyphic tags – you can find it anywhere.
(20) By electron microscopy these fibrils resembled the hieroglyphic fibrils seen in the N-proteinase-deficient skin of dermatosparactic animals and humans and were distinct from the near circular cross-section fibrils seen in the tissues of individuals with EDS type VII.
Undecipherable
Definition:
Example Sentences:
(1) Unknown academics sending manuscripts would receive handwritten (which sometimes meant virtually undecipherable) comments in response, always written in a positive spirit.
(2) And with 30 or more pages of undecipherable legalese at many sites, how is anyone supposed to understand the nature of the trade for digital services?