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Delian

[dee-lee-uh n, deel-yuh n]
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adjective
  1. pertaining to Delos.
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noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Delos.
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Origin of Delian

1615–25; < Latin Dēli(us) (< Greek Dḗlios) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for delian

Historical Examples

  • The Delian legend of the Hyperboreans may be thought to point in this direction.

    The Legacy of Greece

    Various

  • With dance and song the Delian maidens still hailed the divinity of Lt's son.

  • The tables were made of Thuja-root, with claws of ivory or Delian bronze.

  • Then he triumphantly dedicated his flagship to the Delian Apollo.

  • As a whole, the spirit of the piece is much more Delian (Ionian) than Delphic.

British Dictionary definitions for delian

Delian

noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Delos
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adjective
  1. of or relating to Delos
  2. of or relating to Delius
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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

Word Origin and History for delian

Delian

adj.

1620s, "of Delos," tiny island in the Aegean, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Delian problem "find the length of the side of a cube having double the volume of a given cube," was set by the oracle at Delos when it answered (430 B.C.E.) that the plague in Athens would end when Apollo's (cube-shaped) altar was doubled. The Latin fem. form of the word became the proper name Delia.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper