characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air; "figures light and aeriform come unlooked for and melt away"- Thomas Carlyle; "aerial fancies"; "an airy apparition"; "physical rather than ethereal forms" [syn: aeriform]
2.
of or containing or dissolved in ether; "ethereal solution"
3.
of heaven or the spirit; "celestial peace"; "ethereal melodies"; "the supernal happiness of a quiet death" [syn: celestial]
4.
characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy; "this smallest and most ethereal of birds"; "gossamer shading through his playing"
E*the"re*al\, a. 1. Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions. Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger. --Milton. 2. Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc. Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man. --Pope. 3. (Chem.) Pertaining to, derived from, or resembling, ether; as, ethereal salts. Ethereal oil. (Chem.) See Essential oil, under Essential. Ethereal oil of wine (Chem.), a heavy, yellow, oily liquid consisting essentially of etherin, etherol, and ethyl sulphate. It is the oily residuum left after etherification. Called also heavy oil of wine (distinguished from oil of wine, or [oe]nanthic ether). Ethereal salt (Chem.), a salt of some organic radical as a base; an ester.