Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A goddess who turned Odysseus's men temporarily into swine but later gave him directions for their journey home.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ornithology, a genus of humming-birds, the type of which is C. latirostris of Mexico.
- noun In conchology, a genus of siphonate bivalves, of the family Cyprinidæ, containing such species as C. corrugata.
- noun A genus of Trachymedusæ: synonymous with Trachynema (which see).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun Greek mythology An
enchantress who turnedOdysseus ' men into pigs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (Greek mythology) a sorceress who detained Odysseus on her island and turned his men into swine
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But when I had gone up into the fair bed of Circe, I besought her by her knees, and the goddess heard my speech, and uttering my voice I spake to her winged words: Circe, fulfil for me the promise which thou madest me to send me on my homeward way.
Book X Homer 1909
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Lander and Boshier devised what they call the "Circe Principle" as an explanation for these unexpected results.
Ars Technica Amy Coombs 2011
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The change of the comrades of Odysseus into swine and that type of animal signifies this, that the souls of undeserving men are changed into the likeness of brute beasts; they fall into the circular periphery of the whole, which he calls Circe; whereas she is justly represented as the child of the Sun, dwelling in the island of Aeaea, for this word [Greek omitted] is so called because men lament and wail by reason of death.
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Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny.
Rebel Angels: Summary and book reviews of Rebel Angels by Libba Bray. 2005
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Toward the end of the book, Suttree, felled by typhoid fever, (which mirrors an unelaborated histoplasmosis fugue that his troglodytic familiar Harrogate suffered earlier), has a series of "Circe" - style hallucinations.
The Valve Jonathan Goodwin 2010
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I cannot therefore deeply regret the days when I called Circe a "wise-wife '.' and every marriage a" high-tide. "
Surprised by Joy Lewis, C. S. 1955
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The first is the concluding chapter of a two-parter called Circe's Island.
Archive 2006-02-01 DAVID BISHOP 2006
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'The Queen isn't called Circe, so that's all right,' said Arsenios, wishing that he had not agreed to come.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin De Bernieres, Louis 2003
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The plain, I wis, is called Circe's; and here in line grow many willows and osiers, on whose topmost branches hang corpses bound with cords.
The Argonautica Apollonius Rhodius
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"Why, didn't my maid tell you that I am called Circe?" she replied.
The Satyricon — Volume 05: Crotona Affairs 20-66 Petronius Arbiter
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