cardinal

1. (Roman Catholicism) One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.Examples: "His uncle, a Cardinal, engages a Spanish youth of Moorish descent called Diego, an expert singer and player on the virginal, to unlock the secrets of the heart,[…]and cure him by the spell of his music."; "Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis. Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis’s papacy; and the moderate US cardinal Robert Prevost."countableuncountable

2. (mathematics) Ellipsis of cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3). (See Cardinal_number.)Examples: "This cardinal number is the smallest of the infinite cardinal numbers; it is the one to which Cantor has appropriated the Hebrew aleph with the suffix 0, to distinguish it from larger infinite cardinals. Thus the name of the smallest of infinite cardinals is ₀א."abbreviationalt-ofcountableellipsisuncountable

3. (grammar) Ellipsis of cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.Examples: "The commonest numerals in Latin, as in English, are the "cardinals" […] and the "ordinals" […]."abbreviationalt-ofcountableellipsisuncountable

4. (now historical) A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.Examples: "[…]; and whilst she was looking over several pieces of each, she took an opportunity of concealing under her cardinal a piece of cotton, and several handkerchiefs, with which she went off undiscovered;[…]."; "She has valuables of mine; besides, my cardinal and veil are in her room."; "Where's your cardinal! Make haste."countablehistoricaluncountable

5. (obsolete) Mulled red wine.Examples: "He goes up, and finds the remains of the supper, Tankards full of egg-flip and cardinal, and a party playing at vingt-un."; "A Recipe to make Cardinal, which I attribute to the German governess, raises a problem."; "It was de Rosenberg's practice to separate young bloods from their inheritance, and to facilitate this he served them a vicious drink called 'cardinal', a mulled wine of which the ascertainable ingredients were a pineapple and several mixed vintages."countableobsoleteuncountable

1. (baseball) A player on the St. Louis Cardinals team.Examples: "Smith became a Cardinal as the result of a pre-season trade."

2. (American football) A player on the Arizona Cardinals team.