Adonis
[uh-don-is, uh-doh-nis]
- Classical Mythology. a youth slain by a wild boar but permitted by Zeus to pass four months every year in the lower world with Persephone, four with Aphrodite, and four wherever he chose.
- a very handsome young man.
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Origin of Adonis
1615–25 for def 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for adonis
Contemporary Examples
Cyrus tweeted a series of photos posing with a Hand of Adonis sex toy on a a plane.
Brad Pitt, even in an impromptu cell phone photo, manages to look like Adonis on earth.
The latest Adonis cast in the part is 31-year-old model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan.
Then Calvin Klein aired a two-minute commercial featuring an Adonis flexing in underwear.
For a time he wrote criticism for Mawaqif, a publication founded by the Syrian poet (and perennial Nobel also-ran) Adonis.
Historical Examples
He had probably "Venus and Adonis" in his pocket when he first reached London.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
It is all concerned with the wooing of young Adonis by Venus, an older woman.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
One spring morning while hunting in the forest, Adonis wounded two.
Classic MythsMary Catherine Judd
According to others, however, it was the blood of Adonis which dyed the flower.
StoryologyBenjamin Taylor
Pansy went, like the steed of Adonis, as if she told the steps.
A Pair of Blue EyesThomas Hardy
Adonis
- Greek myth a handsome youth loved by Aphrodite. Killed by a wild boar, he was believed to spend part of the year in the underworld and part on earth, symbolizing the vegetative cycle
- a handsome young man
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin, via Greek Adōnis from Phoenician adōni my lord, a title of the god Tammuz; related to Hebrew Adonai
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for adonis
Adonis
n.
"a beau," 1620s, from Greek Adonis, name of the youth beloved by Aphrodite, from Phoenician adon "lord," probably originally "ruler," from base a-d-n "to judge, rule." Adonai is the Hebrew cognate.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Adonis
In classical mythology, an extremely beautiful boy who was loved by Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
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Note
By extension, an “Adonis” is any handsome young man.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.