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

See Examples For:

twice-born

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

Bráhmaṇs, Kshattriyas, and Vaisyás are born, first, of their mothers, and, a second time, by the girding on of the sacred thread—therefore are they declared to be twice-born.

From Hindu Law and Judicature from the Dharma-Sástra of Yájnavalkya by Edward Röer

Before us, kings twice-born, cradled in purple, are as naught.

From The White Plumes of Navarre A Romance of the Wars of Religion by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

The twice-born men their steps retrace From each sequestered bathing-place, And each his sacred gift has brought Of blossoms which his hands have sought.

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

The twice-born myth of Quivira, city of gold, which cost thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of Spanish ducats, lives even to-day in remote neighborhoods of the southwest.

From The Book of the National Parks by Yard, Robert Sterling