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Laokoön

or La·ok·o·on

[ley-ok-oh-on]
noun
  1. Laocoön.
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Laocoön

or La·oc·o·on, La·ok·o·ön, La·ok·o·on

[ley-ok-oh-on]
noun
  1. Classical Mythology. a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans of the Trojan Horse, and who, with his two sons, was killed by two huge serpents sent by Athena or Apollo.
  2. (italics) a late 2nd-century b.c. representation in marble of Laocoön and his sons struggling with the serpents: attributed to Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for laokoon

Historical Examples

  • The relation of this to Lessing, both in the "Laokoon" and in the "Dramaturgie" is at once apparent.

    Tieck's Essay on the Boydell Shakspere Gallery

    George Henry Danton

British Dictionary definitions for laokoon

Laocoon

noun
  1. Greek myth a priest of Apollo at Troy who warned the Trojans against the wooden horse left by the Greeks; killed with his twin sons by two sea serpents
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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 laokoon

Laocoon

Trojan priest of Apollo, from Latin Laocoon, from Greek Laukoun, from laos "people" (see lay (adj.)) + koeo "I mark, perceive."

Laocoön, n. A famous piece of antique sculpture representing a priest of that time and his two sons in the folds of two enormous serpents. The skill and diligence with which the old man and lads support the serpents and keep them up in their work have been justly regarded as one of the noblest artistic illustrations of the mastery of human intelligence over brute inertia. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
laokoon in Culture

Laocoon

[(lay-ok-oh-on)]

In classical mythology, Laocoon was a priest in Troy during the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When the Trojans discovered the Trojan horse outside their gates, Laocoon warned against bringing it into the city, remarking, “I am wary of Greeks even when they are bringing gifts.” (See “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”) The god Poseidon, who favored the Greeks, then sent two enormous snakes after Laocoon. The creatures coiled themselves around the priest and his two sons, crushing them to death. Some sources say Athena sent the snakes.

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.