Definitions

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

  • noun A generous benefactor; specifically, a patron of literature or art.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French mecenas, and its source, Latin Maecēnās ("literary patron"), from the name of Gaius Maecenas, Roman statesman and patron of Horace and Virgil.

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Examples

  • Not long after that, the Romans arrive to escort Arcturus to a hidden forbidden temple where Maecenas is dead looking like a ghastly imitation of Mithras slaying the bull.

    Nox Dormienda-Kelli Stanley « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews 2008

  • She delays "Maecenas" too much and gives it an emphasis far from the subtlety of the original it is also centered on the page, but at least has it, unlike Day Lewis.

    Archive 2008-08-01 Lemon Hound 2008

  • She delays "Maecenas" too much and gives it an emphasis far from the subtlety of the original it is also centered on the page, but at least has it, unlike Day Lewis.

    C. Day Lewis, Virgil's Georgics Lemon Hound 2008

  • Octavian’s response to the terms Maecenas brought him was very different.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • Octavian’s response to the terms Maecenas brought him was very different.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • He misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

    unknown title 2009

  • He misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

    Latest Headlines - ABC 7 News 2009

  • He misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

    unknown title 2009

  • Twelve-year-old Tim Ruiter of Centreville, Va., matched Kavya word-for-word until he misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

    unknown title 2009

  • He misspelled "Maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

    unknown title 2009

Comments

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  • In Russian and Slovene and, I expect, many other languages this name has become a common noun referring to a patron of the arts, especially someone who supports a particular artist, writer, or art institution.

    January 5, 2012