Gorgon
[gawr-guh n]
- Classical Mythology. any of three sister monsters commonly represented as having snakes for hair, wings, brazen claws, and eyes that turned anyone looking into them to stone. Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, was beheaded by Perseus.
- (lowercase) a mean, ugly, or repulsive woman.
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Origin of Gorgon
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin Gorgōn < Greek Gorgṓ, derivative of gorgós dreadful
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gorgon
Contemporary Examples
In Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa had the face of a woman and poisonous snakes for hair; her glance could turn men to stone.
Military drones, with ominous code names like Gorgon Stare and Constant Hawk, can monitor movement across an entire urban area.
Historical Examples
In its surface he could safely look at the reflection of the Gorgon's face.
The Gorgon's HeadNathaniel Hawthorne
Hence the Gorgon, one of her consorts, was ordered to go ahead and lead the way.
Heroes of the TelegraphJ. Munro
The Gorgon cannot have looked more coldly wicked than her ladyship just then.
The Lion's SkinRafael Sabatini
Unfortunately the journal says very little of the Gorgon's voyage home.
Voyage of H.M.S. PandoraEdward Edwards
"Surely the Gorgon was a kind of prehistoric suffragette," objected Dick.
Ambrotox and Limping DickOliver Fleming
Gorgon
- Greek myth any of three winged monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who had live snakes for hair, huge teeth, and brazen claws
- (often not capital) informal a fierce or unpleasant woman
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Word Origin
via Latin Gorgō from Greek, from gorgos terrible
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 gorgon
Gorgon
late 14c., any of the three hideous sisters in Greek legend, whose look turned beholders to stone (Madusa was one of them), from Greek Gorgo (plural Gorgones), from gorgos "terrible," of unknown origin. Transferred sense of "terrifyingly ugly person" is from 1520s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper