lotus-eater

American  

[loh-tuhs-ee-ter] / ˈloʊ təsˌi tər /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a member of a people whom Odysseus found existing in a state of languorous forgetfulness induced by their eating of the fruit of the legendary lotus; one of the lotophagi.

2. a person who leads a life of dreamy, indolent ease, indifferent to the busy world; daydreamer.

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lotus-eater British  

noun

1. Greek myth one of a people encountered by Odysseus in North Africa who lived in indolent forgetfulness, drugged by the fruit of the legendary lotus

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Etymology

Origin of lotus-eater

First recorded in 1660–80; singular of lotus-eaters, translation of Latin Lōtophagī, from Greek Lōtophágoi, noun use of masculine plural adjective lōtophágos “lotus-eating.” See lotus, -phagous

Example Sentences

It was aristocratic, enchantingly indolent, like the face of a happy lotus-eater.

From The Garden of Allah by Hichens, Robert Smythe

How they got home you must read in Homer:—Mr. Tennyson—himself, we presume, a dreamy lotus-eater, a delicious lotus-eater—leaves them in full song.

From Early Reviews of English Poets by Haney, John Louis

"It is exhausting, but with my usual energy I do it all the same," said Ernest, who is as a fact the world's champion lotus-eater.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, July 21, 1920 by Seaman, Owen, Sir

He was still lost in the dreams of the lotus-eater when he heard something that resembled the rattling of his own noisy car.

From Penny of Top Hill Trail by Lyford, Philip

If one has been a lotus-eater all summer, he must turn gravel-eater in the fall and winter.

From Winter Sunshine by Burroughs, John