Byzantine

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to the ancient city of Byzantium.
2. adj. Of or relating to the Byzantine Empire.
3. adj. Of or belonging to the style of architecture developed from the fifth century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire, characterized especially by a central dome resting on a cube formed by four round arches and their pendentives and by the extensive use of surface decoration, especially veined marble panels, low relief carving, and colored glass mosaics.
4. adj. Of the painting and decorative style developed in the Byzantine Empire, characterized by formality of design, frontal stylized presentation of figures, rich use of color, especially gold, and generally religious subject matter.
5. adj. Of the Eastern Orthodox Church or the rites performed in it.
6. adj. Of a Uniat church that maintains the worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church or the rites performed in it.
7. adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by intrigue; scheming or devious: "a fine hand for Byzantine deals and cozy arrangements” ( New York).
8. adj. Highly complicated; intricate and involved: a bill to simplify the byzantine tax structure.
9. n. A native or inhabitant of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Pertaining to Byzantium, or Constantinople, an ancient city of Thrace, situated on the Bosporus, which became the capital of the Byzantine or Eastern empire, or to the empire itself. Byzantium was founded by a Greek colony in the seventh century b. c., but was of no great importance until a. d. 330, when the emperor Constantine the Great made it his capital, and changed its name to Constantinople, after himself.
2. n. A native or an inhabitant of Byzantium. See I.
3. n. Same as bezant

Wiktionary

1. adj. Overly complex or intricate.
2. adj. Of or pertaining to Byzantium.
3. adj. of a devious, usually stealthy manner, of practice.
4. n. rare A native of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul)
5. n. history Belonging to the civilization of the Eastern-Roman empire, between 331 A.D. when the capital was moved to Constantinople (now Istanbul) and up 1453 when it was conquered by the Turks.
6. n. Alternative form of byzantine. (coin)

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Of or pertaining to Byzantium.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. of or relating to or characteristic of the Byzantine Empire or the ancient city of Byzantium
2. adj. highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious
3. adj. of or relating to the Eastern Orthodox Church or the rites performed in it
4. n. a native or inhabitant of Byzantium or of the Byzantine Empire