The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Faust \Faust\, or Faustus \Faustus\ (f[^a]s"tus).,
   Doctor Johann Faust, a person born at Kundling (Knittlingen),
   W["u]rtemberg, or at Roda, near Weimar, and said to have died
   in 1588. He was a man of licentious character, a magician,
   astrologer, and soothsayer, who boasted of performing the
   miracles of Christ. It was believed that he was carried off
   at last by the devil, who had lived with him in the form of a
   black dog.
   [Century Dict. 1906]

   Note: The legends of Faust were gathered from the then recent
         traditions concerning him in a book which appeared at
         the book-fair at Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1587. It was
         called "The History of Dr. Faustus, the Notorious
         Magician and Master of the Black Art, etc." Soon after
         its appearance it became known in England.

               A metrical version of it into English was
               licensed by Aylmer, Bishop of London, before the
               end of the year. In 1588 there was a rimed
               version of it into German, also a translation
               into low German, and a new edition of the
               original with some slight changes. In 1689 there
               appeared a version of the first German Faust book
               into, French, by Victor Palma Cayet. The English
               prose version was made from the second edition of
               the original, that of 1588, and is undated, but
               probably was made at once. There was a revised
               edition of it in 1592. In 1592 there was a Dutch
               translation from the second German edition. This
               gives the time of the carrying off of Faustus by
               the devil as the night between the twenty-third
               and twenty-fourth of October, 1538. The English
               version also gives 1538 as the year, and it is a
               date, as we have seen, consistent with
               trustworthy references to his actual life.
               Marlowe's play (' The Tragical History of Doctor
               Faustus ') was probably written in 1588, soon
               after the original story had found its way to
               England. He treated the legend as a poet,
               bringing out with all his power its central
               thought -- man in the pride of knowledge turning
               from his God.                      --(Morley,
                                                  Eng. Writers,
                                                  IX. 254.)
         This play was brought to Germany about the beginning of
         the 17th century, and, after passing through various
         developments on the stage, finally became a
         puppet-play, which is still in existence. Lessing wrote
         parts of two versions of the story. M["u]ller, the
         painter, published two fragments of his dramatized life
         of Faust in 1778. Goethe's tragedy (which see) was not
         published till 1808. Klinger published a romance
         "Faust's Leben, Thaten und H["o]llenfahrt" (1791:
         Borrow translated it in 1826). Klingemann published a
         tragedy on the subject (1815), Heine a ballet "Der
         Doctor Faust, ein Tanzpoem" (1851), and Lenau an epic
         "Faust" (1836). W. G. Wills adapted a play from
         Goethe's "Faust," which Henry Irving produced in 1885.
         Calderon's play "El Magico Prodigioso " strongly
         resembles Goethe's and Marlowe's plays, though founded
         on the legend of St. Cyprian.
         [Century Dict. 1906]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Faust \Faust\ (foust).
   1. A tragedy by Goethe, commenced in 1772, and published. as
      "Faust, ein Fragment" in 1790. Part 1, complete, was
      published as "Faust, eine Trag["o]die" in 1808; part 2,
      finished in 1831, was published in 1833. It has been
      translated into English by Bayard Taylor, Blackie, Anster,
      Hayward, Martin, and others (nearly 40 in all). Goethe
      accomplished the transformation of Faust from a common
      necromancer and conjurer into a personification of
      humanity, tempted and disquieted, but at length groping
      its way to the light. See Goethe.
      [Century Dict. 1906]

   2. An opera by Gounod (words, after Goethe, by Carr['e] and
      Barbier) represented at the Th['e][^a]tre Lyrique, Paris,
      March 19, 1859.
      [Century Dict. 1906]

   3. An opera by Spohr, first produced at Frankfurt in 1818.
      The words, which do not follow Goethe's play, are by
      Bernhard.
      [Century Dict. 1906] Faust

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Faust \Faust\, Faustus \Faust"us\n.
   an alchemist of German legend who sold his soul to the devil
   in exchange for knowledge.

   Syn: Faust.
        [WordNet 1.5] Faust

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Faust
    n 1: an alchemist of German legend who sold his soul to
         Mephistopheles in exchange for knowledge [syn: Faust,
         Faustus]