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Faust - 3 dictionary results

Faust

[foust]
–noun
1. Jo⋅hann [yoh-hahn] , c1480–c1538, German magician, alchemist, and astrologer.
2. the chief character of a medieval legend, represented as selling his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power.
3. (italics) a tragedy by Goethe (Part 1, 1808; Part 2, 1832).
4. (italics) an opera (1859) by Charles Gounod.
Faust   (foust)   
n.  A magician and alchemist in German legend who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for power and knowledge.

[German, after Johann Faust (1480?-1540?), German magician and alchemist.]
Faust'i·an (fou'stē-ən) adj.

Faust [(fowst)]

A legendary sixteenth-century magician and practitioner of alchemy, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, knowledge, and power. Christopher Marlowe, a sixteenth-century English poet, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote famous plays about him.

Note: A “Faustian” bargain is one in which a person is willing to make extreme sacrifices for power or knowledge without considering the ultimate cost.
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