Icarus

American  

[ik-er-uhs, ahy-ker-] / ˈɪk ər əs, ˈaɪ kər- /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. Also Ikaros a youth who attempted to escape from Crete with wings of wax and feathers but flew so high that his wings melted from the heat of the sun, and he plunged to his death in the sea.

2. Astronomy. an asteroid whose eccentric orbit brings it closer to the sun than any other known asteroid.

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Icarus British  

/ ˈaɪ-, ˈɪkərəs /

noun

1. Greek myth the son of Daedalus, with whom he escaped from Crete, flying with wings made of wax and feathers. Heedless of his father's warning he flew too near the sun, causing the wax to melt, and fell into the Aegean and drowned

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Icarus Scientific  

/ ĭk′ər-əs /

1. A small asteroid with a highly eccentric, Earth-crossing orbit that takes it to within 30 million km (19 million mi) of the Sun, or closer than the planet Mercury. In 1968 Icarus approached within 6 million km (4 million mi) of the Earth.

2. See more at asteroid

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Icarus Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the son of Daedalus. Icarus died tragically while using artificial wings, invented by his father, to escape from the Labyrinth. When Icarus flew too close to the sun, it melted the wax that held the wings together, and he fell into the sea.

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Example Sentences

Like Icarus soaring toward the heavens, like Orpheus sneaking a peek over his shoulder, so too did the Hawk Tuah Girl test the Gods of the Zynternet with her own hubris by launching a cryptocurrency.

From Slate • Dec. 20, 2024

What few readers saw at the time is that this is an Icarus story.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2024

The results were published in the journal Icarus.

From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2024

Data from the Armagh Observatory and weather stations all over Ireland has been analysed by researchers at the Icarus Climate Research Centre in Maynooth University.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2023

But Icarus flapped his arms, desperately trying to reassert control.

From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan