Ajax

[ ey-jaks ]

/ ˈeɪ dʒæks /

noun

Also called Great Ajax, Telamonian Ajax. Classical Mythology. a Greek hero in the Trojan War who rescued the body of Achilles and killed himself out of jealousy when Odysseus was awarded the armor of Achilles.

Also called Ajax the Lesser. Classical Mythology. a Locrian king, noted for his fighting during the Trojan War, who was said to have been killed in a shipwreck as punishment for violating a shrine of Athena.

(italics) a tragedy (c440 b.c.) by Sophocles.

a town in S Ontario, in S Canada.

Also A·ias

[ey-yas, ahy-as] /ˈeɪ yæs, ˈaɪ æs/ (for defs 1–3).

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ajax

As early as the 1960s, clubs like Ajax Amsterdam began developing new approaches to the game.
Spain Wins!|Joshua Robinson|July 10, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Within an hour of Dick's departure, Mr. Carteret was walking through the old mission church, chatting with my brother Ajax.
Bunch Grass|Horace Annesley Vachell
This lad was always first in the charge, and last in the retreat—the Achilles at once and Ajax of the Cross-causeway.
Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10)|John Gibson Lockhart
In the meantime the Neptune started on the second leg of the race, with the Ajax fifty yards to the rear.
The Putnam Hall Champions|Arthur M. Winfield

They were near the big motorboat Ajax, which still rested in the cradle on deck.
The Moving Picture Girls at Sea|Laura Lee Hope
I was often accustomed to compare Ajax to the Deaf un,—not because he was hard of hearing, but hard in hitting.
The Comic Latin Grammar|Percival Leigh

British Dictionary definitions for ajax

Ajax

/ (ˈeɪdʒæks) /

noun Greek myth

the son of Telamon; a Greek hero of the Trojan War who killed himself in vexation when Achilles' armour was given to Odysseus

called Ajax the Lesser, a Locrian king, a swift-footed Greek hero of the Trojan War

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ajax

Ajax

name of two Greek heroes in the Trojan War (Great Ajax, son of Telamon, and Little Ajax, son of Oileus), Latin, from Greek Aias, perhaps originally the name of an earth-god, from aia "earth." The Elizabethans punned on the name as a jakes "a privy."