a. [f. Gr. ἄθε-ος godless (see ATHEAL) + -OUS.]
† 1. Atheistic, impious. Obs.
1612. Bp. Hall, Contempl., I. 12. It is an ignorant conceit, that enquiry into nature should make men atheous.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 487. Suffers the Hypocrite or atheous Priest To tread his Sacred Courts.
1792. D. Lloyd, Voy. Life, III. 46. In Atheous men conscience becomes a scourge.
2. Not dealing with the existence of a God. (Intended to convey a purely privative sense, as distinguished from the negative atheistic.)
1880. 19th Cent., March, 503. If I might coin a word, I should say that science was atheous, and therefore could not be atheistic … conversant simply with observed facts and conclusions drawn from them, and in this sense … atheous, or without recognition of God.
