Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A king of Thebes and the husband of Alcmene.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A host; an entertainer.
- noun [capitalized] [NL.] In zoology, a genus of crustaceans.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Telebo'ans, Jupiter assumes the form of Amphitryon; but Amphitryon himself returns home the next day, and great confusion arises between the false and true Amphitryon, which is augmented by Mercury, who personates Sos'ia, the slave of Amphitryon.
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook Ebenezer Cobham Brewer 1853
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-- The Amphitryon is the king of the table: his empire lasts as long as the meal, and ends with it.
The Jest Book The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings Mark Lemon 1839
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Mr. Banville, whose 2005 novel "The Sea" won the Man Booker Prize, was inspired in part by German dramatist Heinrich von Kleist's tragicomedy "Amphitryon," in which the Roman god Jupiter comes to earth in pursuit of a mortal woman.
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He turned once more to the stage and produced in 1690 "Don Sebastian", a tragi-comedy in blank verse and prose which rivals "All for Love" for the supreme place among his plays, and in the same year "Amphitryon", a comedy, based on Molière, though with several original situations.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913
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"Amphitryon" (1668), three acts in verse of various measures, where
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
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It must be confessed that, while the passions of the young king, Louis XIV, had only too much reason to be pleased with the author of "Amphitryon", religion has no cause to approve the author of "Tartufe".
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
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It is the play of 'Amphitryon' without the part of Amphitryon, and resembles more than anything else one of those pieces made up of the comic portions of plays, which used to be called 'drolls.'
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 William Carew Hazlitt 1873
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The story is based on "Amphitryon," an early 19th century play by Kleist about the Theban general of the title.
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Revolution was attached to Dryden's politics and religion, he seems occasionally to have sought for patrons amongst those Nobles of opposite principles, whom moderation, or love of literature, rendered superior to the suggestions of party rancour; or, as he himself has expressed it in the Dedication of "Amphitryon," who, though of a contrary opinion themselves, blamed him not for adhering to a lost cause, and judging for himself what he could not chuse but judge.
The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 07 John Dryden 1665
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ED] [66] “When Dryden, our first great master of verse and harmony, brought his play of 'Amphitryon' to the stage, I heard him give it his first reading to the actors; in which, though it is true he delivered the plain sense of every period, yet the whole was in so cold, so flat, and unaffecting a manner, that I am afraid of not being believed, when I affirm it.” ”
The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Scott, Walter, Sir 1882
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