lotus-eater
Americannoun
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Classical Mythology. a member of a people whom Odysseus found existing in a state of languorous forgetfulness induced by their eating of the fruit of the legendary lotus; one of the lotophagi.
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a person who leads a life of dreamy, indolent ease, indifferent to the busy world; daydreamer.
noun
Etymology
Origin of lotus-eater
First recorded in 1660–80; singular of lotus-eaters, translation of Latin Lōtophagī, from Greek Lōtophágoi, noun use of masculine plural adjective lōtophágos “lotus-eating.” See lotus, -phagous
Vocabulary lists containing lotus-eater
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.
There is much truth in Mr. Gosse's saying that "the poet is not a lotus-eater who has never known the Gospel, but an evangelist turned inside out."
From Old and New Masters by Lynd, Robert
His was not the temperament of the lotus-eater.
From A Vanished Hand by Doudney, Sarah
It was aristocratic, enchantingly indolent, like the face of a happy lotus-eater.
From The Garden of Allah by Hichens, Robert Smythe
About it were chairs and divans that would have satisfied a lotus-eater.
From We Can't Have Everything by Hughes, Rupert
Diana, have you really performed suttee, have you buried yourself alive in this sweet spot deliberately, or has the love of retirement grown upon you, and have you become a kind of lotus-eater?'
From Phantom Fortune, a Novel by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
