King James Bible Dictionary

FAMIL'IAR, adjective famil'yar. [Latin familiaris, familia, family, which see.]

1. Pertaining to a family; domestic.

2. Accustomed by frequent converse; well acquainted with; intimate; close; as a familiar friend or companion.

3. Affable; not formal or distant; easy in conversation.

Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.

4. Well acquainted with; knowing by frequent use. Be familiar with the scriptures.

5. Well known; learned or well understood by frequent use. Let the scriptures be familiar to us.

6. Unceremonious; free; unconstrained; easy. The emperor conversed with the gentleman in the most familiar manner.

7. Common; frequent and intimate. By familiar intercourse, strong attachments are soon formed.

8. Easy; unconstrained; not formal. His letters are written in a familiar style.

He sports in loose familiar strains.

9. Intimate in an unlawful degree.

A poor man found a priest familiar with his wife.

FAMIL'IAR, noun

1. An intimate; a close companion; one long acquainted; one accustomed to another by free, unreserved converse.

All my familiars watched for my halting. Jeremiah 20:10.

2. A demon or evil spirit supposed to attend at a call. But in general we say, a familiar spirit.

3. In the court of Inquisition, a person who assists in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.

Sorcerers or necormancers, who professed to call up the dead to answer questions, were said to have a "familiar spirit" (Deuteronomy 18:11; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; Isaiah 8:19; 29:4). Such a person was called by the Hebrews an 'ob, which properly means a leathern bottle; for sorcerers were regarded as vessels containing the inspiring demon. This Hebrew word was equivalent to the pytho of the Greeks, and was used to denote both the person and the spirit which possessed him (Leviticus 20:27; 1 Samuel 28:8; comp. Acts 16:16). The word "familiar" is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a "household servant," and was intended to express the idea that sorcerers had spirits as their servants ready to obey their commands.

Consulting of:

Forbidden
Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-11

Vain
Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 19:3

Those who consulted, to be cut off
Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27

Consulted by Saul
1 Samuel 28:3-25; 1 Chronicles 10:13
Demons; Necromancy; Witchcraft

FAMILIAR'ITY, noun

1. Intimate and frequent converse, or association in company. The gentlemen lived in remarkable familiarity Hence,

2. Easiness of conversation; affability; freedom from ceremony.

3. Intimacy; intimate acquaintance; unconstrained intercourse.

FAMIL'IARIZE, verb transitive

1. To make familiar or intimate; to habituate; to accustom; to make well known, by practice or converse; as, to familiarize one's self to scenes of distress.

2. To make easy by practice or customary use, or by intercourse.

3. To bring down from a state of distant superiority.

The genius smiled on me with a look of compassion and affability that familiarized him to my imagination.

FAMIL'IARIZED, participle passive Accustomed; habituated; made easy by practice, custom or use.

FAMIL'IARIZING, participle present tense Accustoming; rendering easy by practice, custom or use.

FAMIL'IARLY, adverb

1. In a familiar manner; unceremoniously; without constraint; without formality.

2. Commonly; frequently; with the ease and unconcern that arises from long custom or acquaintance.