twice-born

American  

[twahys-bawrn] / ˈtwaɪsˈbɔrn /

adjective

1. Hinduism. of or relating to members of the Indian castes of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, who undergo a spiritual rebirth and initiation in adolescence.

2. having undergone reincarnation.

3. born-again.

4. denoting any moral or religious experience that brings about a major reorientation of a person's character or personality.

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Etymology

Origin of twice-born

1400–50, 1785–95 twice-born for def. 1; late Middle English: an epithet of Bacchus

Example Sentences

The collection’s French-born founders, John and Dominique de Menil, were observant Roman Catholics and also observant modernists — twice-born utopians, you might say, anti-extravagance, pro-transcendence.

From New York Times • Nov. 29, 2018

Then all the twice-born peers of state Together met for high debate.

From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)

Hence, in the later classical Sanskrit literature, the term dvija, or twice-born, is used simply as a synonym for a Brahman.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5 "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of" by Various

If he was different—beyond the "spare parts"—it was something he only suspected, something that made the idea, "twice-born," not a joke.

From Operation Haystack by Dongen, H. R. van

But thou wert twice-born, and the Fates to thee —To make all sure—doubled thy misery.

From Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II by Chambers, E. K. (Edmund Kerchever)