Orpheus

American  

[awr-fee-uhs, -fyoos] / ˈɔr fi əs, -fyus /

noun

1. Greek Legend. a poet and musician, a son of Calliope, who followed his dead wife, Eurydice, to the underworld. By charming Hades, he obtained permission to lead her away, provided he did not look back at her until they returned to earth. But at the last moment he looked, and she was lost to him forever.

2. (italics) a ballet (1947) with music by Stravinsky and choreography by Balanchine.

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Orpheus British  

/ ˈɔːfɪəs, -fjuːs /

noun

1. Greek myth a poet and lyre-player credited with the authorship of the poems forming the basis of Orphism. He married Eurydice and sought her in Hades after her death. He failed to win her back and was killed by a band of bacchantes

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Orphean
  adjective

Example Sentences

Perhaps it should be emphasized that the company does not in fact specialize in farce, since the sight of Orpheus stumbling through a mental ward clutching his dead wife’s red shoe was fairly funny.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

In what turns out to be a striking reminder of Wilson, Kosky employs acclaimed German actress Angela Winkler in the spoken role of Orpheus, who functions as a narrator for the opera.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025

Another soprano, Elena Villalón, sang the impish god Amore, who charges Orpheus with his task of rescuing Euridice from the underworld without gazing upon her.

From New York Times • May 24, 2024

Former Home and Away star Orpheus Pledger has been arrested after a three-day police manhunt in Australia.

From BBC • Apr. 25, 2024

Orpheus persisted, and in the years that followed he kept in touch with Marian as she traveled around the world.

From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman