Cardinal

Cardinal, kär′din-al, adj. denoting that on which a thing hinges or depends: principal; of a deep scarlet colour, like a cardinal's cassock.—n. one of the seventy princes of the church constituting the sacred college at Rome, to whom pertains the right of electing a new pope: a short cloak, formerly worn by ladies.—ns. Car′dinalate, Car′dinalship, the office or dignity of a cardinal; Car′dinal-bird, a species of grosbeak, one of the finest song-birds of America, probably so called from its red plumage.—adv. Car′dinally, fundamentally: (Shak., Measure for Measure, II. i. 81) carnally.—Cardinal flower (see Lobelia); Cardinal numbers, numbers expressing how many; Cardinal points, the four chief points of the compass—north, south, east, and west; Cardinal virtues, justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude, so called because the whole of human nature was supposed to hinge or turn upon them—the natural as distinguished from the theological virtues. [Fr.—L. cardinalis—cardo, cardinis, a hinge.]