Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A capsule dehiscing transversely by a lid that falls off to release the seeds.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In old arms and armor, an engine-of-war: probably the same as
culverin , the early form of cannon. - noun In Greek antiquity and archaeology, a type of cylindrical vase or box with a cover, used especially by women, as for the toilet. See cut in preceding column.
- noun A box; a jewel-case.
- noun In anatomy, the cotyloid cavity, or acetabulum of the hip-joint.
- noun [capitalized] A genus of brachiopods
- noun [capitalized] In conchology, a genus of gastropods.
- noun [capitalized] A genus of land-tortoises of the family Testudinidæ, having the anterior part of the plastron so movable that it can be shut like the lid of a pyxis.
- noun A tortoise of this genus, the only known species, Pyxis arachnoidea, of Madagascar and Mauritius. Its shell is yellow, with broad black bands radiating from the center of the dorsal shields.
- noun [capitalized] In entomology, a genus of coleopterous insects.
- noun In botany: A seed-vessel, commonly a capsule, with a circumscissile dehiscence, the top falling away like a lid, as in the common purslane and plantain, and in the fruit known as monkey-pots. See
Lecythis , and cut undercircumscissile . - noun The theca of mosses. Also
pyxidium .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A box; a pyx.
- noun (Bot.) A pyxidium.
- noun (Anat.) The acetabulum. See
Acetabulum , 2.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
box - noun botany : A
capsule in which thelid separates from the top of thefruit ; apyxidium - noun A
nautical compass
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun fruit of such plants as the plantain; a capsule whose upper part falls off when the seeds are released
- noun a small box used by ancient Greeks to hold medicines
- noun a constellation in the southern hemisphere near Puppis and Antlia
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Ear-rings in various shapes, necklaces in numerous rows, bracelets in the forms of hoops or snakes for the upper and lower arms, and various other trinkets v. 'ere in great request, and were kept in a species of casket or box, called pyxis, from the name of the wood of which it was orignaliy made; and these caskets, as Avell as the small oval hand mirrors of metal,
Costume of the ancients Hope, Thomas, 1770?-1831 1812
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Ranging in size from two to ten centimeters, the pieces include an ivory furniture plaque, a gold ring, a red jasper stamp seal, and the flat lid of a pyxis, or small box — from Anatolia, Mycenae, Vapheio, and Byblos, respectively.
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In the museum we have a pyxis that was once a container for the Eucharist and stored in a church treasury.
Why Should We Care? Philippe de Montebello 2008
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The word pyx (Lat., pyxis, which transliterates the Greek, pyxis, box-wood receptacle, from pyxos, box-tree) was formerly applied in a wide and general sense to all vessels used to contain the Blessed
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913
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Even the names by which they were known (capsa, capsella, theca, pyxis, arca etc.) are quite general in character, and it seems certain that the same names also designated receptacles for the Blessed Eucharist, the holy oils, and other pious objects.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913
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Dodwell pyxis of 650 to 620 B.C., a man wears an oval shield, covering him from the base of the neck to the ankles.
Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878
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Vaphio cups, found in a _tholos_ chamber-tomb near Amyclae, the men are "long-haired Achaeans," with heavy, pendent locks, like the man on a pyxis from Knossos, published by Mr. Evans; they are of another period than the close-cropped men of the vase and dagger.
Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878
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If Homer does not know small circular shields, but refers always to huge shields, whereas, from the eighth century B.C. onwards, such shields were not in use (disregarding Tyrtaeus, and the vase of Aristonothos on which they appear conspicuously, and the Dodwell pyxis), where are we?
Homer and His Age Andrew Lang 1878
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In one -- the pyxis -- the plastron is furnished with a transverse hinge, so that the animal can retract its head and fore-limbs within the carapace, and close the plastron upon it, first shutting them in.
The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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"They form a pyxis," she explained, a jewel box that's a "little like a castle turret."
The Seattle Times 2012
reesetee commented on the word pyxis
In addition to the WordNet definition: a lidded cosmetic or jewelry box.
November 9, 2007
BrainyBabe commented on the word pyxis
Too funny. I swear I just heard this referred to as a container for ungulents.
December 25, 2008
BrainyBabe commented on the word pyxis
Too funny. I swear I just heard this referred to as a container for ungulents. Presumably a mishearing of ungulate.
December 25, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word pyxis
*thinks hard*
Possibly unguent?
December 25, 2008
BrainyBabe commented on the word pyxis
Yes, absolutely. I wasn't making myself clear. A pyxis is a small and often beautifully decorated container, used primarily for cosmetics and perfumes: concentrated sticky non-edible things, i.e. unguents. But I heard an educated person (as opposed to all those illiterate drop-outs who discuss Greek pottery) refer to it as a container for ungulents, a non-existant word. Presumably this person had the word for hoofed mammals echoing in his brain, and it came out more like that than anything else. It amused me.
December 26, 2008
BrainyBabe commented on the word pyxis
Wikipedia says:
A pyxis (plural pyxides) is a type of Greek pottery used by women to hold cosmetics, trinkets or jewellery.
December 26, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word pyxis
Oh, I get it.
*grin* That is funny!
December 26, 2008
sionnach commented on the word pyxis
Aren't pyxis, like, traffic gnomes in Reykjavik or something?
December 26, 2008
BrainyBabe commented on the word pyxis
The traffic cop/cones, like all other civil servants in Iceland, are on a go-slow till the bankrupt government figures out how to pay them. They are moonlighting as moden art sculptures at vernissages.
December 27, 2008