angel

Etymology 1

From Middle English angel, aungel, ængel, engel, from Old English anġel, ænġel, enġel, enċġel (“angel, messenger”), from Proto-West Germanic *angil, borrowed from Latin angelus, itself from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”); and also in part from Anglo-Norman angele, angle, from the same Latin source. The religious sense of the Greek word first appeared in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, “messenger”) or יהוה מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ YHWH, “messenger of YHWH”). Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of the Seven churches of Asia in Revelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.

noun

1. An incorporeal and sometimes divine messenger from a deity, or other divine entity, often depicted in art as a youthful winged figure in flowing robes.
   The dear good angel of the Spring, / The nightingale. 1641, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd
   There seemed to be girls sitting on top of them, or maybe they were meant to be angels. Angels are usually represented as wearing more than that, though. 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 50
2. (Abrahamic tradition) One of the lowest order of such beings, below virtues.
3. A person having the qualities attributed to angels, such as purity or selflessness.
   Thanks for making me breakfast in bed, you little angel.
   Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life. 2014-08-25, John Eligon, “Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
4. (obsolete) Attendant spirit; genius; demon.
5. (possibly obsolete) An official (a bishop, or sometimes a minister) who heads a Christian church, especially a Catholic Apostolic Church.
   An apostle, or angel, or bishop, as he is now called, resided with a college of presbyters about him, in every considerable city of the Roman empire; to that angel or bishop, 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; 1817, Thomas Stackhouse, A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved by G. Gleig, page 504
   […] 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 the angel or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying […] 1832, Edward Irving, speech before the Presbytery of London, quoted in 1862, Margaret Oliphant, The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London: Illustrated by His Journals and Correspondence, page 429
   The second or highest grade consists of the Angels or Bishops of Churches. Each Church has its Angel, 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. 1878, Edward Miller, The History and Doctrines of Irvingism Or of the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, § 9 Pastors, page 50 (discussing the structure of the early Christian church and of the Catholic Apostolic Church)
6. (historical) An English gold coin, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael, circulated between the 15th and 17th centuries, and varying in value from six shillings and eightpence to ten shillings.
7. (military slang, originally Royal Air Force) An altitude, measured in thousands of feet.
   Climb to angels sixty. ― ascend to 60,000 feet
8. (colloquial, dated) An unidentified flying object detected by air traffic control radar.
9. (finance) An angel investor.
   “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. 2011, OECD, Financing High-Growth Firms: The Role of Angel Investors
10. (theater) The person who funds a show.

verb

1. (transitive, theater, slang) To support by donating money.
   Six years ago, he lost $20,000 in the first show he angelled, a turkey called Dance Night. 1944, Maurice Zolotow, Never Whistle in a Dressing Room; Or, Breakfast in Bedlam, page 59
   You've got to come to Chicago to meet Duell, and see Wilson, who's going to angel the show. 1984, “American Magazine”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 118, page 88

Etymology 2

Clipping of Angelman

noun

1. (informal) A person who has Angelman syndrome.