Definitions

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

  • noun A monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Μινώταυρος (minótavros), from Μίνως (Minos, "king of Crete") + ταῦρος (taûros, "bull").

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Examples

  • Alongside these still frames there are a number of behind-the-scenes videos at the Rogue Pictures site where Tarsem discusses how the minotaur is a ‘beastly baby’ and the Gods ‘are like flying squirrels’.

    Mickey Rourke and John Hurt are IMMORTALS | Obsessed With Film 2010

  • The minotaur is a mythological beast, which is half beast, half human.

    FOXING THE MINOTAUR 2003

  • "Surely the minotaur is their commander," Silvan said.

    Dragons of a Fallen Sun Weis, Margaret 2000

  • He had always, too, felt what he had called the minotaur-thing in her, the creature with teeth and claws fastening upon pleasure.

    The Way of Ambition Robert Smythe Hichens 1907

  • Visit the island of Crete with the Amateur Traveler: This video shows the archeological site of Knossos (often called the Palace of Knossos) which was the home of the Minotaur if you believe early Greek authors (which you shouldn't because the minotaur was the name of the double headed ax used by the Minoans).

    combined Amateur Traveler travel podcast feed 2010

  • "Yes, I'll remember," the kender assured him, stepping back into the dim waiting room, happily holding his "minotaur" bone.

    Stalling 2010

  • "Yes, I'll remember," the kender assured him, stepping back into the dim waiting room, happily holding his "minotaur" bone.

    Kendermore Kirchoff, Mary 1989

  • "seafoam" cam Aphrodite, Zeus 'impregnation of women in the form of not just a swan but a goat and a "shower of gold", some blasphemous king being cursed so that his daughter fell in love with a bull and constructed a special wooden apparatus in order to have intercourse with the bull and thus birth the cursed beast called the minotaur who eventually got tossed into a labyrinth.

    Progressive U - The new media voice for students 2009

  • The peasantry of the Gwâlior territory seem to consider their own government as a kind of minotaur, which they would be glad to see destroyed, no matter how or by whom; since it gives no lucrative or honourable employment to any of their members, so as to interest either their pride or their affections; nor throws back among them for purposes of local advantage any of the produce of their land and labour which it exacts.

    Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822

  • by the way, "minotaur" is not a compliment.... posted by Mungowitz @ 7/10/2006 07:50:00 AM

    Archive 2006-07-01 2006

  • Meet the minotaurs — our term for the companies that would be worth more than $1 billion even if the only thing they did was to take the cash that they have raised and put it in a checking account.

    Meet the "minotaurs": The companies that have raised more than $1 billion Felix Salmon 2019

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