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Hesperides

[he-sper-i-deez]
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noun
  1. Classical Mythology.
    1. (used with a plural verb)nymphs, variously given as three to seven in number, who guarded with the dragon Ladon the golden apples that were the wedding gift of Gaea to Hera.
    2. (used with a singular verb)the garden where the golden apples were grown.
    3. (used with a plural verb)Islands of the Blessed.
  2. (italics) (used with a plural verb) a collection of poems (1648) by Robert Herrick.
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Origin of Hesperides

see origin at Hesperus, -ides
Related formsHes·per·id·i·an [hes-puh-rid-ee-uh n] /ˌhɛs pəˈrɪd i ən/, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hesperides

Historical Examples

  • Did you ever hear of the golden apples, that grew in the garden of the Hesperides?

    The Three Golden Apples

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • But, can you show me the way to the garden of the Hesperides?

    The Three Golden Apples

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • The peaches of immortality suggest the apples of the Hesperides.

  • The ancients, in their ignorance, placed the garden of the Hesperides there.

  • In Greek legend apples are stolen from the garden of Hesperides.

British Dictionary definitions for hesperides

Hesperides

pl n Greek myth
  1. the daughters of Hesperus, nymphs who kept watch with a dragon over the garden of the golden apples in the Islands of the Blessed
  2. (functioning as singular) the gardens themselves
  3. another name for the Islands of the Blessed
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Derived FormsHesperidian (ˌhɛspəˈrɪdɪən) or Hesperidean, adjective
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