[syn: daemon, demigod]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Demigod \Dem"i*god\, n.
A half god, or an inferior deity; a fabulous hero, the
offspring of a deity and a mortal.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
demigod
n 1: a person with great powers and abilities [syn: demigod,
superman, Ubermensch]
2: a person who is part mortal and part god [syn: daemon,
demigod]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
33 Moby Thesaurus words for "demigod":
Achilles, David, Hector, Roland, Samson, a man, brave, bulldog,
chutzpanik, decorated hero, demigoddess, fighting cock, gallant,
gamecock, god, goddess, godkin, godlet, godling, good soldier,
hero, heroine, idol, lion, man of courage, paladin, phoenix,
stalwart, superhuman, the brave, tiger, valiant, valiant knight
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
demigod
n.
A hacker with years of experience, a world-wide reputation, and a major
role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or
known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine
demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker community
and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis
Ritchie (co-inventors of Unix and C), Richard M. Stallman (inventor of
EMACS), Larry Wall (inventor of Perl), Linus Torvalds (inventor of
Linux), and most recently James Gosling (inventor of Java, NeWS, and
GOSMACS) and Guido van Rossum (inventor of Python). In their hearts of
hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and
more than one major software project has been driven to completion by the
author's veiled hopes of apotheosis. See also net.god, true-hacker,
ubergeek. Since 1995 or so this term has been gradually displaced by
ubergeek.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
demigod
A hacker with years of experience, a national
reputation, and a major role in the development of at least
one design, tool, or game used by or known to more than half
of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine demigod, the
person must recognisably identify with the hacker community
and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken
Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of Unix and
C) and Richard Stallman (inventor of Emacs). In their
hearts of hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming
demigods themselves, and more than one major software project
has been driven to completion by the author's veiled hopes of
apotheosis.
See also net.god, true-hacker.
[Jargon File]
(1994-10-27)