Definitions

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

  • noun A constellation in the Northern Hemisphere near Cygnus and Hercules and containing Vega.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An ancient northern constellation, representing the lyre of Hermes or of Orpheus. Also called the Harp.
  • noun [lowercase; pl. lyræ (-rē).] In anatomy, a tract of the brain beneath the corpus callosum, on the under surface and between the divergent posterior pillars of the fornix.
  • noun In zoology: A genus of fishes.
  • noun A genus of brachiopods.
  • noun [lowercase] See lira.

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

  • noun (Astron.) A northern constellation, the Harp, containing a white star of the first magnitude, called Alpha Lyræ, or Vega.
  • noun (Anat.) The middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain; -- so called from the arrangement of the lines with which it is marked in the human brain.

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

  • proper noun astronomy A summer constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a lyre. It includes the bright star Vega and the Ring Nebula.
  • proper noun rare A female given name.

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

  • noun a small constellation in the northern hemisphere near Cygnus and Draco; contains the star Vega

Etymologies

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

[Latin, from lyra, lyre; see lyre.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lyra) a "lyre, the constellation Lyra"

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Lyra.

Examples

  • Salvation will come only if Theron can win Lyra's trust — and her heart.

    OOTB Tour: Veiled Truth by Vivi Anna Nalini Singh 2008

  • Salvation will come only if Theron can win Lyra's trust — and her heart.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Nalini Singh 2008

  • This isn't Harry Potter stuff where adults actually listen to children; Lyra is berated again and again, talked down to, betrayed, you name it.

    Books in 2008, #10 pabba 2008

  • Dakota Blue Richards, in particular, acts with skill beyond her years and proves a perfect choice for the bold, charming, and tomboyish heroine Lyra; as a result of her performance, Lyra is more three-dimensional here than she is in the novels, where she remains consistently, bemusingly, and frustratingly uninterested in the larger happenings around her.

    Movie Review: The Golden Compass 2007

  • Dakota Blue Richards, in particular, acts with skill beyond her years and proves a perfect choice for the bold, charming, and tomboyish heroine Lyra; as a result of her performance, Lyra is more three-dimensional here than she is in the novels, where she remains consistently, bemusingly, and frustratingly uninterested in the larger happenings around her.

    Archive 2007-12-01 2007

  • Lyra is too small to do much more than whap Sasha and run away, which she does rather frequently.

    WCB: All Over Archie Lindy 2006

  • The "elder" meant is, according to some (in Lyra), Matthew.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • This little story is complex and nuanced, and I found it much more satisfying than “Lyra and the Birds”, the story in Lyra’s Oxford.

    Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman and Further Web Wanderings 2008

  • “He can’t tell a lie,” Emmerich told me recently, “and [Lyra] is an expert liar.”

    How Hollywood Saved God 2007

  • Lyra is the anti-Disney heroine: an unruly, unteachable orphan cared for by the university’s dons who spits and lies her way out of trouble.

    How Hollywood Saved God 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.