Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Greek Mythology A strikingly beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite, who transformed the drops of his blood into anemones after he was killed by a boar.
  • noun A handsome young man.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A beau; a dandy; an exquisite: as, he is quite an Adonis. In botany, a genus of European plants belonging to the natural order Ranunculaceæ.
  • noun [lowercase] A kind of wig formerly worn.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Gr. Myth.) A youth beloved by Venus for his beauty. He was killed in the chase by a wild boar.
  • noun A preëminently beautiful young man; a dandy.
  • noun (Bot.) A genus of plants of the family Ranunculaceæ, containing the pheasant's eye (Adonis autumnalis); -- named from Adonis, whose blood was fabled to have stained the flower.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the tribe Ranunculeae — known as pheasant's eye or blood-drops.
  • proper noun Greek mythology A beautiful young man loved by Aphrodite.
  • proper noun rare A male given name
  • noun A beautiful man.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any handsome young man
  • noun annual or perennial herbs
  • noun (Greek mythology) a handsome youth loved by both Aphrodite and Persephone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek Adōnis, of Phoenician origin; see ℵd in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Ἄδωνις (Adōnis).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἄδωνις (Adōnis)

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Examples

  • Adonis _Adonis_ apropos _apropo_ bowsprit _bowsprit_ brooch _broch_ not _broosh_ compromise _compromize_ jowl _jol_, not like _owl_ molecular _molecular_ ogle _ogle_ trow _tro_ vocable _vocable_ zoology _zoology_, not _zoo_

    Practical Grammar and Composition Thomas Wood

  • Shakespeare's _Venus and Adonis_, in like manner, is so written as to force the reader to feel with Venus the seduction of Adonis.]

    Renaissance in Italy, Volumes 1 and 2 The Catholic Reaction John Addington Symonds 1866

  • The name Adonis is not here used, as Adon is the appropriated title of Jehovah.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • For the rest, he expounded some of the standard anti-Stratfordian delusions, e. g., that Venus and Adonis is exceptionally learned and that the Stratford Man made his money as a “grain trader”.

    Stromata Blog: 2009

  • For the rest, he expounded some of the standard anti-Stratfordian delusions, e. g., that Venus and Adonis is exceptionally learned and that the Stratford Man made his money as a “grain trader”.

    Shakespeare Controversies 2010

  • For the rest, he expounded some of the standard anti-Stratfordian delusions, e. g., that Venus and Adonis is exceptionally learned and that the Stratford Man made his money as a “grain trader”.

    Bits and Pieces from Westercon 2009

  • He is, I believe, half Greek so Adonis is not such an odd name. on July 30, 2008 at 9: 39 pm | Reply nightjack

    School’s Out Forever « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008

  • [104] „ Adonis ... and Adonai Tammuz : Adonis is familiar, of course, but Adonai?

    Archive 2006-03-01 Hal Duncan 2006

  • Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune.

    Fortunate Son: Summary and book reviews of Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley. 2006

  • [104] „ Adonis ... and Adonai Tammuz : Adonis is familiar, of course, but Adonai?

    Losts in Translation Hal Duncan 2006

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