Atropos

[a-truh-pos]

noun Classical Mythology.

the Fate who cuts the thread of life.

Origin of Atropos

< Greek: literally, not turning, hence, inflexible. See a-⁶, -trope

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Examples from the Web for atropos

Historical Examples of atropos

Atropos has decreed that I at least shall never again enter her walls.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
Lachesis announced the past, Clotho the present, and Atropos the future.
The Phantom World
Augustin Calmet
We have constructed a fate, an Atropos, that never turns aside.
Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
Like the time—the 'Atropos' came in just after we touched down.
A Question of Courage
Jesse Franklin Bone
Atropos is the Fate who cuts the thread of life; see note to v. 7.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 2 (of 7)
Geoffrey Chaucer

British Dictionary definitions for atropos

Atropos

noun

Greek myth the one of the three Fates who severs the thread of life

Word Origin for Atropos

Greek, from atropos that may not be turned, from a- 1 + -tropos from trepein to turn

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 atropos

Atropos

one of the Fates (the one who holds the shears and determines the manner of a person's death and cuts the thread), from Greek, "inflexible," literally "not to be turned away," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + stem of trepein "to turn" (see trope). Related form Atropa was the Greek name for deadly nightshade.