/ · 1894 Brewer’s · C · Chaos (kaos)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Confusion; that confused mass of elemental substances supposed to have existed before God reduced creation into order. The poet Hesiod is the first extant writer that speaks of it.
“Light, uncollected, through the chaos urged
Its infant way, nor order yet bad drawn
His lovely train from out the dubious gloom.”
Thomson: Autumn, 732–4.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.