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Augean stables

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plural noun Classical Mythology.
  1. the stables in which King Augeas kept 3000 oxen, and which had not been cleaned for 30 years. The cleaning of these stables was accomplished by Hercules, who diverted the river Alpheus through them.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for augean stables

Augean stables

pl n
  1. Greek myth the stables, not cleaned for 30 years, where King Augeas kept 3000 oxen. Hercules diverted the River Alpheus through them and cleaned them in a day
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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
augean stables in Culture

Augean stables

[(aw-jee-uhn)]

Stables that figured in the Greek myth of the Labors of Hercules. The stables, which belonged to King Augeas, housed a large herd of cattle and had not been cleaned for years. Hercules was ordered to clean out these filthy stalls. He did so by diverting the course of two rivers so that they flowed through the stables.

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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.