Prometheans

Noun

Promethean (plural Prometheans)

1. One with the qualities of Prometheus, or who acts in a Promethean manner (audaciously, creatively, etc.).
   • The Fall is a view of life. It is not only the only enlightening, but the only encouraging view of life. It holds, as against the only real alternative philosophies, those of the Buddhist or the Pessimist or the Promethean.1929, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Outline of the Fall”, in The Thing: Why I am a Catholic, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1930, →OCLC, page 226
2. (also, attributive, historical) A kind of lucifer match consisting of a glass tube containing sulfuric acid coated on the outside with a flammable mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar and wrapped in paper rolls; the match was lit by crushing the tube with pliers, causing the acid to react with and ignite the flammable components. This type of match was superseded by the friction match which was lit by rubbing against a rough surface.
   • I carried with me some promethean matches, which I ignited by biting; it was thought so wonderful that a man should strike fire with his teeth, that it was usual to collect the whole family to see it: I was once offered a dollar for a single one.1839, Charles Darwin, chapter III, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […]...

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