lotus-eater
Americannoun
-
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.
-
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
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.
A moment he yielded to the temptation of the lotus-eater and continued to luxuriate in the lap of Arcadia.
From A Man and His Money by Isham, Frederic Stewart
Is this the existence of the lotus-eater, Marian?
From The Bachelors A Novel by Orcutt, William Dana
I felt a dash of the infatuation of the lotus-eater, in his "—land that seemed always afternoon."
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine No. XVI.?September, 1851?Vol. III. by Various
If one has been a lotus-eater all summer, he must turn gravel-eater in the fall and winter.
From Winter Sunshine by Burroughs, John
I am no lotus-eater by nature," he went on with energy, "and so I fought and conquered it.
From The Centaur by Blackwood, Algernon
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.