Definitions

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

  • noun A young man who pined away in love for his own image in a pool of water and was transformed into the flower that bears his name.

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

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Amaryllidaceae — the daffodils.
  • proper noun Greek mythology A youth who spurned the love of Echo and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool: in some versions of the myth, he drowned trying to reach it, while in others he sat fixated until a god took pity and transformed him into a flower.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Narkissos, "Narcissus"), a hero in Greek mythology, renowned for his beauty and pride.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Narkissos, "Narcissus").

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Examples

  • Another success for the Powell-Pressburger team, "Narcissus" is an absorbing, finely acted British melodrama about the secular problems facing a new mother superior in an unfamiliar, potentially hostile environment.

    John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: A Tribute To Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

  • Another success for the Powell-Pressburger team, "Narcissus" is an absorbing, finely acted British melodrama about the secular problems facing a new mother superior in an unfamiliar, potentially hostile environment.

    John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used to: A Tribute to Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

  • Another success for the Powell-Pressburger team, "Narcissus" is an absorbing, finely acted British melodrama about the secular problems facing a new mother superior in an unfamiliar, potentially hostile environment.

    John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: A Tribute To Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

  • Trombone Mose, the biggest negro, was set busy with a can of paint obliterating the name Narcissus from the bow, and substituting the name Hula Hula, and the others congregated aft and became intently involved in a game of craps.

    Flappers and Philosophers 2003

  • a can of paint obliterating the name Narcissus from the bow, and substituting the name Hula Hula, and the others congregated aft and became intently involved in a game of craps.

    Flappers and Philosophers 1918

  • As a tulipant to the sun (which our herbalists calls Narcissus) when it shines, is

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • She fancies that she loves a certain contemptible puppy called Narcissus; but I have made very short work with him.

    The Green Fairy Book 2003

  • His conversation with Terence Reardon had convinced him that the Narcissus was a misunderstood ship -- that she had been poorly managed and was the victim of a false financial policy.

    Cappy Ricks Or, the Subjugation of Matt Peasley 1918

  • She fancies that she loves a certain contemptible puppy called Narcissus; but I have made very short work with him.

    The Green Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1878

  • Aristobulus and Narcissus themselves, some think, were absent, or lately dead; others think they were unbelievers, and such as did not themselves embrace Christianity; so Pareus: and some think this Narcissus was the same with one of that name who is frequently mentioned in the life of Claudius, as a very rich man that had a great family, but was very wicked and mischievous.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721

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