Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHER'UB, n. [plur. Cherubs, but the Hebrew plural Cherubim is also used. Heb. כרוב kerub. In Ch. and Syr. the corresponding verb signifies to plow; and the word is said to signify properly any image or figure; if so, it may have been named from engraving. But this is uncertain, and the learned are not agreed on the signification.]

A figure composed of various creatures, as a man, an ox, an eagle or a lion. The first mention of cherubs is in Gen. iii. 24, where the figure is not described, but their office was, with a flaming sword, to keep or guard the way of the tree of life. The two cherubs which Moses was commanded to make at the ends of the mercy seat, were to be of beaten work of gold; and their wings were to extend over the mercy seat, their faces toward each other, and between them was the residence of the Deity. Ex. xxv. The cherubs, in Ezekiel's vision, had each four heads or faces, the hands of a man, and wings. The four faces were, the face of a bull, that of a man, that of a lion, and that of an eagle. They had the likeness of a man. Ezek. iv. and x. In 2 Sam. xxii. 11, and Psalm xviii, Jehovah is represented as riding on a cherub, and flying on the wings of the wind. In the celestial hierarchy, cherubs are represented as spirits next in order to seraphs. The hieroglyphical and emblematical figures embroidered on the veils of the tabernacle are called cherubs of curious or skillful work. Ex. xxvi. A beautiful child is called a cherub.