cherub

noun4

1. •
   A winged creature attending God and guarding his throne described as a being with four faces (man, lion, ox, and eagle), human hands, calf hooves, four wings, and many eyes. A description can be found in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10; similar to a lamassu (winged bull with a human torso) in the pre-exilic texts of the Hebrew Bible, more humanoid in later texts.
2. •
   A winged angel, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century) as the second highest order of angels, ranked above thrones and below seraphim.

   • Over the arcke were the cherubyns off glory shadowynge the seate of grace. — 1526
3. •
   In later texts changed to a winged baby; in artistic depictions sometimes a baby's head with wings but no body.
4. •
   (figurative) A person, especially a child, seen as being particularly angelic or innocent.

   • Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd Cherubin. — 1603