Cthulhu

American  

[kuh-thoo-loo] / kəˈθu lu /

noun

1. an otherworldly entity, usually portrayed as a gigantic winged creature with a humanoid body and a tentacled face, that was created by the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft in the 1928 short story The Call of Cthulhu and became an important part of Lovecraft's mythos, later also becoming a popular culture reference.

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Etymology

Origin of Cthulhu

Coined in 1928 by U.S. writer H.P. Lovecraft ( def. ) (1890–1937) in his short story The Call of Cthulhu, published in the U.S. pulp magazine Weird Tales; resemblance to chthonian or chthonic is accidental

Example Sentences

In his most famous work, “The Call of Cthulhu,” science fiction writer H.P.

From Salon

Name the powerful emotions you feel and set them aside, because unleashing your anger, outrage, disgust and so forth — as, again, with Cthulhu — only nourishes him.

From Salon

There is a cultural feeling of doom, this sense that Cthulhu underlies modern society, and we are waiting for it to collapse, or worse.

From Salon

Whether it is Jason or Cthulhu, at least the killer in horror follows the rules of the genre, Salkowitz says by phone from Washington state.

From Washington Post

Once back home, I brought the summer to a shivery close by listening to a pair of CDs dramatizing “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Call of Cthulhu,” both from the H.P.

From Washington Post