Rosicrucian

n. [Lat. ros, dew, and crux, cross; dew, the most powerful dissolvent of gold, according to these philosophers, and cross, the emblem of light.] One of a sect of hermetical philosophers which came into being in Germany about the close of the seventeenth century. They made great pretensions to a knowledge of the secrets of nature, and especially as to the transmutation of metals, the prolongation of life, acquaintance with what is passing in distant places, and the application of the Cabala and science of numbers to discover the most hidden things.

The sect was often known as the Brothers of the Rosy Cross, it being supposed that the term Rosicrucian was derived from crux, cross, and rosa, rose.