houri
Americannoun
-
houris
plural
noun
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(in Muslim belief) any of the nymphs of Paradise
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any alluring woman
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of houri
1730–40; < French < Persian hūrī < Arabic ḥūr plural of ḥaurāʾ gazelle-eyed (woman)
Explanation
A houri is an extremely beautiful young woman. In Islam, a houri exists in Paradise as a divine companion for those believers who have died. The houri is an important figure in Islam, appearing several times in the Quran. Though they are described as feminine, they appear as both male and female, acting as companions or guides for faithful Muslims. Houris are often depicted as beautiful young virgins, and this idea has been transferred to European cultures, in which a houri is simply a "voluptuous woman." The Persian root, huri, means "nymph in Paradise," from the Arabic haura, "beautifully dark-eyed."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And for decades, Kate Moss has been imprinted on nearly everyone’s mental screen saver as a languorously gaunt, plump-lipped houri with an expression of cryptic jadedness that recalls one of those umber-eyed Parisian Pierrots.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2012
Last week Johore rejoiced in a new houri, the shift being directly due to Adolf Hitler's war against England.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tom pooh-poohs this project and is much more susceptible to a cocktail houri and budding lady poet named Cynthia Vail, who shows him a few of her lines.
From Time Magazine Archive
I do not profess that I at any time played the rôle of a gentle and propitiating houri.
From The Claw by Cynthia Stockley
Chitra in Rabindranath Tagore's play, for example, tried both aspects of the woman's life, and Tagore is at one with Plato in preferring the Rosalind type to the houri.
From What is Coming? by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
A new version of The Nutcracker, with teddy bear dancers as sugar plum fairies, Arabian houris and Chinese pandas, is delicate, funny, winning.
From Time Magazine Archive
Instead of the fairy-tale land of kohl-eyed houris and snake charmers, the subcontinent here seems to be a domesticated place of hospital corridors, puddly lanes and gently twittering birds.
From Time Magazine Archive
Since Plautus originally wrote it, this musical is more than 2,000 years old, but the situations are still funny, the houris are delectable, and Zero Mostel is a pluperfect master of the comic revels.
From Time Magazine Archive
"I'm thinking, Hamish, if the houris in his paradise kenned the words o' the spring I've been deaving him wi', the Egyptian would be very greatly thought of."
From The McBrides A Romance of Arran by John Sillars
My poor houris, dreading some fatal drama of the usual Turkish character, had indeed passed through a cruel time of distress and anguish.
From French and Oriental Love in a Harem by Paul Avril
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