murex
[myoo r-eks]
- any marine gastropod of the genus Murex, common in tropical seas, certain species of which yield the royal purple dye valued by the ancients.
- a shell used as a trumpet, as in representations of Tritons in art.
- purplish red.
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Origin of murex
1580–90; < New Latin, Latin mūrex the shellfish that yielded Tyrian purple dye
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for murex
Historical Examples
But murex or no murex, Purple was discovered by my ancestors.
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
It was produced by a combination of the secretions of the murex and buccinum.
Museum of AntiquityL. W. Yaggy
Some, again, are smooth, others nearly as rough as the Murex trunculus.
History of PhoeniciaGeorge Rawlinson
The genus Murex is supposed to have been the first species indicated by Aristotle.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
Certainly not; the flesh of the murex can provide a pigment as well as food.
The Works of Lucian of Samosata, v. 4Lucian of Samosata
murex
- any of various spiny-shelled marine gastropods of the genus Murex and related genera: formerly used as a source of the dye Tyrian purple
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin mūrex purple fish; related to Greek muax sea mussel
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for murex
n.
kind of shellfish which yields a purple dye, 1580s, from Latin murex (plural murices) "purple fish, purple dye," probably cognate with Greek myax "sea mussel," of unknown origin, perhaps related to mys "mouse" (see muscle (n.) and mussel).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper