Hippocrene

American  

[hip-uh-kreen, hip-uh-kree-nee] / ˈhɪp əˌkrin, ˌhɪp əˈkri ni /

noun

1. a spring on Mount Helicon sacred to the Muses and regarded as a source of poetic inspiration.

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Hippocrene British  

/ ˈhɪpəʊˌkriːn, ˌhɪpəʊˈkriːnɪ /

noun

1. a spring on Mount Helicon in Greece, said to engender poetic inspiration

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Other Word Forms

• Hippocrenian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Hippocrene

C17: via Latin from Greek hippos horse + krēnē spring

Example Sentences

In classical legend, Hippocrene, the fountain on Mount Helicon created by Pegasus's hoof, is sacred to the Muses and inspires whoever drinks from it.

From The Guardian • Jul. 20, 2013

To Webb's oenology students, wine is not the "blushful Hippocrene" extolled by Keats but a complicated blend of ethyl alcohol, polyphenols and a hundred other compounds that must be subjected to decidedly unromantic analysis.

From Time Magazine Archive

The spring beloved of poets, Hippocrene, on Helicon, the Muses’ mountain, had sprung up where his hoof had struck the earth.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

In the mountain range of Helicon, in Boeotia, there were two fountains sacred to the Muses, Aganippe and Hippocrene, of which the former was the more famous.

From Select Poems of Thomas Gray by Carruthers, Robert

Yes; and in Boeotia also: I have rested in the groves of Helicon, and tasted of the fountain Hippocrene.

From Romola by Eliot, George