Definitions

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

  • noun A peasant woman of Phrygia who together with her husband Philemon received with great hospitality Zeus and Hermes disguised as men. The gods rewarded the couple by turning them in their old age into intertwining linden and oak trees.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Case point: Zeus and Hermes visiting the earth and being turned away from every home except for Philemon and Baucis … There is but some similarity here …

    Think Progress » Portugal’s parliament approves same-sex marriage. 2010

  • Even Bartlett's use of Ovid's Philemon and Baucis story as a framing device to illustrate marital devotion feels like an self-conscious attempt to lend the story a high classical tone.

    Or You Could Kiss Me - review Michael Billington 2010

  • The second obscure musical artifact revived at Spoleto this season was Haydn's 1773 marionette opera, "Philemon and Baucis," written for the marionette theater at Eszterh za.

    Passion and Precision 2010

  • The hour-long "Philemon and Baucis" is based on a myth about a poor old couple who shelter and feed the disguised Jupiter and Mercury after their neighbors have turned them away.

    Passion and Precision 2010

  • Tenors Hugo Vera (Philemon) and Scott Scully (Aret, his son) pushed their voices more than necessary in the small Emmett Robinson Theatre; Monica Yunus was a poignant Baucis and Shannon Kessler Dooley (Narcissa, the daughter-in-law), though indisposed, offered a good sense of the most florid of the vocal parts.

    Passion and Precision 2010

  • Baucis was turned into a linden tree and Philemon into an oak, two different but beautiful trees intertwined with one another.

    Eyecandy #7: Arboretal arabesques « Jahsonic 2008

  • Suddenly Baucis and Philemon each saw the other putting forth leaves.

    Eyecandy #7: Arboretal arabesques « Jahsonic 2008

  • Baucis was turned into a linden tree and Philemon into an oak, two different but beautiful trees intertwined with one another.

    24 « February « 2008 « Jahsonic 2008

  • Daphnis and Chloe, while waiting to become Philemon and Baucis.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • The picture makes me think of Philemon and Baucis.

    It arrived late in an aging civilization « Jahsonic 2008

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