abraxas

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In antiquity, a Gnostic amulet consisting of an engraved gem, often bearing a mystical figure (which generally combines human and brute forms) and an unintelligible legend, but sometimes inscribed with the word Abraxas, either alone or accompanying a figure or a word connected with Hebrew or Egyptian religion, as Iao, Sabaoth, Osiris. A mystical word used by the Gnostic followers of Basilides to denote the Supreme Being, or, perhaps, its 365 emanations collectively, or the 365 orders of spirits occupying the 365 heavens. Later it was commonly applied to any symbolical representation of Gnostic ideas. It is said to have been coined by Basilides in the second century, from the sum of the Greek numeral letters expressing the number 365; thus: α = 1, β = 2, ρ = 100, α = 1, ξ = 60, α = 1, ς = 200; total, 365.
2. n. Also written Abrasax.
3. n. A genus of lepidopterous insects, of the family Geometridæ, containing the large magpie-moth, Abraxas grossulariata. The larvæ are very destructive to gooseberry- and currant-bushes in Europe, consuming their leaves as soon as they appear.

Wiktionary

1. n. Gnosticism, historical A mistaken transcription of Abrasax.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A mystical word used as a charm and engraved on gems among the ancients; also, a gem stone thus engraved.