galatea

¹ American  

[gal-uh-tee-uh] / ˌgæl əˈti ə /

noun

1. a strong cotton fabric, plain or striped, for clothing.

---

Galatea ² American  

[gal-uh-tee-uh] / ˌgæl əˈti ə /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. a sea nymph who was the lover of Acis.

2. a maiden who had been an ivory statue carved by Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite in response to his prayers.

---

Galatea ¹ British  

/ ˌɡæləˈtɪə /

noun

1. Greek myth a statue of a maiden brought to life by Aphrodite in response to the prayers of the sculptor Pygmalion, who had fallen in love with his creation

---

galatea ² British  

/ ˌɡæləˈtɪə /

noun

1. a strong twill-weave cotton fabric, striped or plain, for clothing

---

Etymology

Origin of galatea

First recorded in 1880–85; named after the 19th-century British man-of-war H.M.S. Galatea; the fabric was once used for children's sailor suits

Example Sentences

All he has to do is scrawl a wobbly triumph of galatea or et in arcadia ego on a canvas, and suddenly he's up there with Roberto Calasso, if not Edward Gibbon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Poppy gave back sneer for sneer and taunt for taunt with great versatility; but her heart was sometimes near bursting under the galatea overall.

From Poppy The Story of a South African Girl by Stockley, Cynthia

We'd better tie the galatea to the trees.

From Our Young Folks—Vol. I, No. II, February 1865 An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various

It resembled too exactly that to which they had tied the galatea on the eve of the tempest, and they conjectured that what they saw was but the “spray” of a forest submerged.

From Afloat in the Forest A Voyage among the Tree-Tops by Reid, Mayne

We’d better tie the galatea to the trees.

From Afloat in the Forest A Voyage among the Tree-Tops by Reid, Mayne