Gorgon

[gawr-guh n]

See more synonyms for Gorgon on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

Origin of Gorgon

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin Gorgōn < Greek Gorgṓ, derivative of gorgós dreadful

Related formsGor·go·ni·an

[gawr-goh-nee-uh n] /gɔrˈgoʊ ni ən/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for gorgon

shrew, biddy, beldam, virago, Jezebel, vixen, fury, slattern, harpy, bag, harridan, witch, sorceress, crone, battle-ax, ogress, gorgon, termagant, Medusa, fishwife

Examples from the Web for gorgon

Contemporary Examples of gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa had the face of a woman and poisonous snakes for hair; her glance could turn men to stone.
Russia’s Freest Website Now Lives in Latvia
Anna Nemtsova
November 29, 2014
Military drones, with ominous code names like Gorgon Stare and Constant Hawk, can monitor movement across an entire urban area.
Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Drones
Pierre Hines
September 17, 2013

Historical Examples of gorgon

In its surface he could safely look at the reflection of the Gorgon's face.
The Gorgon's Head
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hence the Gorgon, one of her consorts, was ordered to go ahead and lead the way.
Heroes of the Telegraph
J. Munro
The Gorgon cannot have looked more coldly wicked than her ladyship just then.
The Lion's Skin
Rafael Sabatini
Unfortunately the journal says very little of the Gorgon's voyage home.
Voyage of H.M.S. Pandora
Edward Edwards
"Surely the Gorgon was a kind of prehistoric suffragette," objected Dick.
Ambrotox and Limping Dick
Oliver Fleming

British Dictionary definitions for gorgon

Gorgon

noun

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

Word Origin for Gorgon

via Latin Gorgō from Greek, from gorgos terrible

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 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.