colossus
[kuh-los-uh s]
- (initial capital letter) the legendary bronze statue of Helios at Rhodes.Compare Seven Wonders of the World.
- any statue of gigantic size.
- anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful.
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Origin of colossus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek kolossós statue, image, presumably < a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for colossi
Historical Examples
No time to study the features of the Colossi, or to search for the grave of Major Tidwell.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
We look, we search, and instead of the colossi, we find abortions.
Napoleon the LittleVictor Hugo
The two colossi on the plain of Thebes are, of course, hard gritstone.
Museum of AntiquityL. W. Yaggy
Two canary-coloured Colossi have just deposited tea on a small table.
Red as a Rose is SheRhoda Broughton
We loitered too long around the colossi of Memnon and the palaces of the plain.
Egypt (La Mort De Philae)Pierre Loti
colossus
- something very large, esp a statue
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin, from Greek kolossos
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 colossi
colossus
n.
"gigantic statue," late 14c., from Latin colossus "a statue larger than life," from Greek kolossos "gigantic statue," of unknown origin, used by Herodotus of giant Egyptian statues, and used by Romans of the bronze Apollo at the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes. Figurative sense of "any thing of awesome greatness or vastness" is from 1794.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper