Obs. Also 7 telesme, -isme. Also in Gr. form telesma, pl. -mata. [ad. late Gr. τέλεσμα completion, performance, religious rite (a. 200 Clem. Alex.); later, a consecrated object endowed with a magic virtue to avert evil; f. τελεῖν to complete, fulfil, perform (rites), officiate (in the mysteries), consecrate; f. τέλος end, etc.] TALISMAN2 1; esp. in Byzantine Greece, and in Asia, a statue set up, or an object buried under a pillar or the like to preserve the community, house, etc., from danger.
1646. J. Gregory, Notes & Obs. (1650), 33. The Claudi and the Cæci … were no other than those … Statuary Telesmes so much celebrated of old, which unless they kept the City, the watchman laboured but in vaine. Ibid., 38. Apollonius fetching a deep sigh, refused to make any further Telesmes against the Earthquakes.
1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., VIII. xv. 432. Gaffarel tells us a very reverend story of a Telesme against Fire found under a bridge at Paris.
1693. W. Freke, Sel. Ess., iv. 32. Thus Telesmes, or Talismans also,—are a spawn of Astrology.
